RT Book, Section A1 Portney, Leslie G. A1 Watkins, Mary P. SR Print(0) ID 1138251878 T1 Statistical Inference T2 Foundations of Clinical Research: Applications to Practice, 3e YR 2017 FD 2017 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780803646575 LK fadavispt.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1138251878 RD 2024/10/11 AB In the previous chapter we presented statistics that can be used to summarize and describe data. Descriptive procedures are not sufficient, however, for testing theories about the effects of treatments or for generalizing relationships from samples to populations. For these purposes, researchers use a process of statistical inference. The process of drawing inferences is familiar to everybody. When we decide to read a book by a certain author after having enjoyed other books by that same author, we are inferring something about the probable quality of the new book. When a specific treatment approach produces beneficial effects for a particular patient, a clinician might decide to use that approach for other patients with similar conditions. The difference between these subjective inferences and statistical inference is that the researcher uses objective criteria to make such decisions.