Need to brush up on your stats skills, or starting from scratch? Check out the resources below to learn more about statistics in clinical research.
eBooks and Print Books
3rd ed., 2014
John H. McDonald
An approachable and accessible intro to statistics for clinical and biological research.
2nd ed., 2023
Barbara Illowsky, Susan Dean, et al.
This book “provides an engaging, practical, and thorough overview of the core concepts and skills taught in most one-semester statistics courses.”
2014
Michael Harris and Gordon Taylor
This book covers “key statistics principles for anyone studying or working in medicine and healthcare who needs a basic overview of the subject.”
2013
A. Gouveia Oliveira
“Study design and statistical methodology are two important concerns for the clinical researcher. This book sets out to address both issues in a clear and concise manner.”
Robert P. Ableson
1st ed., 2015
Bertram K. C. Chan
2nd ed.
“This book will teach you how to do data science with R: You’ll learn how to get your data into R, get it into the most useful structure, transform it and visualize.”
1st ed., 2021
Thomas W. MacFarland and Jan M. Yates
Recommended for advanced learners.
Online Courses
National Institutes of Health
“The course focuses on the spectrum of clinical research and the research process by highlighting biostatistical and epidemiologic methods, study design, protocol preparation, patient monitoring, quality assurance, ethical and legal issues, and much more. This course will be of interest to physicians, scientists, medical and dental students, nurses, public health professionals, and others conducting or planning a career in clinical research.” Offered annually.
Harvard University
An introduction to basic statistical concepts and R programming skills necessary for analyzing data in the life sciences.
To take the course for free, choose “Audit course.”
RStudio
The makers of the most popular R interface (RStudio) offer free, self-paced beginner tracks specifically focused on data science and visualization.
Duke University
A curated repository of free, peer-reviewed training modules and short video series specifically selected for a non-statistician, clinical audience.
Software and Tools
The R Foundation
R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. If you want to use RStudio or any other interface for R statistical software, you need to install R first.
Posit
A free software used by researchers to write R code, manage data, and create graphs. In order to use RStudio Desktop, you need to install R first.
Jamovi Project
A spreadsheet-based statistical program powered by R. It feels like Excel but performs advanced biostatistics with simple menus, instantly generating publication-ready tables.
JASP Team / University of Amsterdam
Supported by the University of Amsterdam, this free software is designed to be highly intuitive. It allows clinical researchers to run standard frequentist tests or advanced Bayesian analyses.
UCLA
Handy table that provides general guidelines for choosing a statistical analysis in SAS, STATA, SPSS, and R.
Articles on Stats Methods in Vision Science Research
Lisboa R, Meira-Freitas D, Tatham AJ, Marvasti AH, Sharpsten L, Medeiros FA
Ophthalmology. 2014 Jul;121(7):1317-21
Sanfilippo PG, Casson RJ, Yazar S, Mackey DA, Hewitt AW
Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2016 Jan-Feb;44(1):52-61
Smith SD
Ophthalmology. 2008 Mar;115(3):423-4
Boscardin WJ
Am J Ophthalmol. 2010 Jul;150(1):1-2
Altman DG, Bland JM
BMJ. 1997 Jun 28;314(7098):1874
Ophthalmic Statistics Group
A series of notes on the use of statistical analysis in vision science, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology between 2014 - 2020.
Armstrong RA
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2013 Jan;33(1):7-14
McAlinden C, Khadka J, Pesudovs K
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2011 Jul;31(4):330-8; see also follow-up commentary.
Murdoch IE, Morris SS, Cousens SN
Br J Ophthalmol. 1998 Aug;82(8):971-3
Holopigian K, Bach M
Doc Ophthalmol. 2010 Dec;121(3):215-22