Understanding of Statistical Terms Routinely Used in Presentations: A Survey among Residents who participate at a Summer School

Abstract

Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the understanding of statistical terms commonly used in lectures presented at summer schools for residents and young specialists. Material and Method: A survey was distributed to all the participants at the “Diabetic neuropathy from theory to practice” Summer School, 2014. The program was addressed to residents or young specialists in diabetes, neurology, surgery, and orthopedic from Romania. The survey consists of 6 multiple-choice questions and the first four questions evaluate the understanding of statistical terms. Results: There were 51 (42.5%) participants who completed the questionnaires. From 204 total questions 81 (39.7%) had correct answers. At the question 1, where relative risk was evaluated, only 3 (5.9%) respondents answered correctly while at the question 2 (number need to treat) about 78.4% (40) of answers were correct. At the question 3 (sensitivity), 22 (43.1%) respondents answer correct while at the question 4 (Receiver Operating Characteristic curves) only 16 (31.4%) respondents provided a correct answer. The overall mean score of correct answers was 1.56±0.91. Conclusion: Our study showed that young specialists who participated to the survey were not familiarized with simple statistical terms commonly used in presentations.