Statistics and medicine: the indispensable know-how of the researcher

Abstract

Statistics has often been misunderstood in Medicine, but it is indispensable knowledge both for the experimenter and the reader. Statistical methods allow to study diseases, patients, and epidemiological events. The modern researcher cannot refuse to know and to use statistics. A deeper understanding is required to prepare a research project and to avoid colossal mistakes of misleading. The aim of this paper is to provide an organized and structured point of view on the use of statistics in Medicine and Research, showing the principal resources to organize a scientific study from the declaration of a hypothesis to the report of the results.