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There is no disputing the importance of statistical analysis in biological research, but too often it is considered only after an experiment is completed, when it may be too late.
This collection highlights important statistical issues that biologists should be aware of and provides practical advice to help them improve the rigor of their work.
Nature Methods' Points of Significance column on statistics explains many key statistical and experimental design concepts. Other resources include an online plotting tool and links to statistics guides from other publishers.
Experimental biologists, their reviewers and their publishers must grasp basic statistics, urges David L. Vaux, or sloppy science will continue to grow.
The reliability and reproducibility of science are under scrutiny. However, a major cause of this lack of repeatability is not being considered: the wide sample-to-sample variability in the P value. We explain why P is fickle to discourage the ill-informed practice of interpreting analyses based predominantly on this statistic.
As the data deluge swells, statisticians are evolving from contributors to collaborators. Sallie Ann Keller urges funders, universities and associations to encourage this shift.
Deficiencies in methods reporting in animal experimentation lead to difficulties in reproducing experiments; the authors propose a set of reporting standards to improve scientific communication and study design.