Reporting Statistical Results in Your Paper
[Table of Contents]
| Overview | Descriptive
Statistics | Inferential Statistics
|
Overview
The results of your statistical analyses help you to understand
the outcome of your study, e.g., whether or not some variable
has an effect, whether variables are related, whether differences
among groups of observations are the same or different, etc.
Statistics are tools of science, not an end unto
themselves. Statistics should be used to substantiate your findings
and help you to say objectively when you have significant results.
Therefore, when reporting the statistical outcomes relevant to
your study, subordinate them to the actual biological results.
Top of Page
Reporting Descriptive
(Summary) Statistics
Means: Always report the mean (average value)
along with a measure of variablility (standard deviation(s)
or standard error of the mean ). Two common ways to express
the mean and variability are shown below:
"Total length of brown trout (n=128)
averaged 34.4 cm (s = 12.4
cm) in May, 1994, samples from Sebago
Lake."
s = standard deviation (this format is preferred by
Huth and
others, 1994)
"Total length of brown trout (n=128)
averaged 34.4 ±12.4 cm in May, 1994, samples from Sebago Lake."
This style necessitates specifically saying
in the Methods what measure of variability is reported with the
mean.
Frequencies: Frequency data should be summarized in
the text with appropriate measures such as percents, proportions,
or ratios.
"During the fall turnover period,
an estimated 47% of
brown trout and 24% of brook trout were concentrated in the deepest
parts of the lake (Table 3)."
Top of Page
Reporting
Results of Inferential Tests
In this example, the key result
is shown in blue and the statistical result,
which substantiates the finding, is in red.
"Mean total length of brown trout
in Sebago Lake increased significantly (3.8 cm) between May (34.4
cm ±12.4 cm, n=128) and September, 1994, (38.2 cm ±11.7
cm, n=114; twosample t-test, p <
0.001)."
NOTE:
AVOID writing whole sentences
which simply say what test you used to analyze a result followed
by another giving the result. This wastes precious words (economy!!)
and unnecessarily increases you paper's length.