Clinical Data Analysis on a Pocket Calculator ― Understanding the Scientific Methods of Statistical Reasoning and Hypothesis Testing

In medical and health care the scientific method is little used, and statistical software programs are experienced as black box programs producing lots of p-values, but little answers to scientific questions. The pocket calculator analyses appears to be, particularly, appreciated, because they enable medical and health professionals and students for the first time to understand the scientific methods of statistical reasoning and hypothesis testing. So much so, that it can start something like a new dimension in their professional world. In addition, a number of statistical methods like power calculations and required sample size calculations can be performed more easily on a pocket calculator, than using a software program. Also, there are some specific advantages of the pocket calculator method. You better understand what you are doing. The pocket calculator works faster, because far less steps have to be taken, averages can be used. The current nonmathematical book is complementary to the nonmathematical "SPSS for Starters and 2nd Levelers" (Springer Heidelberg Germany 2015, from the same authors), and can very well be used as its daily companion.

The authors are well-qualified in their field. Professor Zwinderman is past-president of the International Society of Biostatistics (2012-2015), and Professor Cleophas is past-president of the American College of Angiology (2000-2002). From their expertise they should be able to make adequate selections of modern methods for clinical data analysis for the benefit of physicians, students, and investigators. The authors have been working and publishing together for 17 years, and their research can be characterized as a continued effort to demonstrate that clinical data analysis is not mathematics but rather a discipline at the interface of biology and mathematics.

The authors as professors and teachers in statistics at universities in The Netherlands and France for the most part of their lives, are convinced that the scientific method of statistical reasoning and hypothesis testing is little used by physicians and other health workers, and they hope that the current production will help them find the appropriate ways for answering their scientific questions.

Three textbooks complementary to the current production and written by the same authors are Statistics applied to clinical studies 5th edition, 2012, Machine learning in medicine a complete overview, 2015, SPSS for starters and 2nd levelers, 2015, all of them edited by Springer Heidelberg Germany.