Decision-tables for choosing commonly applied inferential statistical tests in comparative and correlation studies
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Decision-tables for choosing commonly applied inferential statistical tests in comparative and correlation studies

Helen Evelyn Malone Research assistant professor, University of Dublin Trinity College, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Imelda Coyne Professor of children’s nursing, University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Background Nurse researchers are increasingly using a wide variety of inferential statistical tests. However, novice researchers might find choosing tests for their studies difficult, as a result of this variety.

Aim To present structured decision-tables to help choose which statistical tests to use in comparative and correlation studies.

Discussion The wide spectrum of statistical techniques the authors identified in nursing research helped them to construct overview tables that researchers could use as a simple tool to help choose appropriate statistical tests for their studies.

Conclusion The decision-tables provided in this paper are unique in that they are composed of commonly applied statistical techniques identified in nursing studies and structured to simplify the pathway to statistical test decision-making for a broad spectrum of study designs.

Implications for practice Novice nurse researchers can use the decision-tables presented in this paper as a starting point to explore with research colleagues or supervisors the appropriate choice of statistical techniques

Nurse Researcher. doi: 10.7748/nr.2019.e1636

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

Helenmalone@gmail.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Malone H, Coyne I (2019) Decision-tables for choosing commonly applied inferential statistical tests in comparative and correlation studies. Nurse Researcher. doi: 10.7748/nr.2019.e1636

Published online: 17 October 2019

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