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Physical Therapy: Statistics

This guide will help you excel in your coursework, research, and practice at LIU.

How Do I Express Numbers & Statistics?

It's not always easy to convey numerical and statistical information with clarity and precision. For this reason, Sections 6.32–6.35 of the APA Manual and Chapter 18 of the AMA Manual provide guidelines on using numerals vs. words. 

Here are a few pointers:

Use numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for the following:

  • numbers 10 and above
  • numbers used in statistics (e.g., 2.45, 3 times as many, 2 x 2 design)
  • numbers used with units of measurement (e.g., 7-mg dose, 3-in. increments) 
  • times (e.g.,1 hr 34 min), ages (e.g., 2 years old), and dates (e.g., March 6)
  • scores and points on a scale (e.g., score of 6, 5-point Likert scale)

Use words (one, two, three, etc.) for the following:

  • numbers zero through nine (e.g., five members)
  • numbers beginning a sentence, heading, or title (e.g., Sixty participants volunteered for)
  • common fractions (e.g., one half, one fifth, a two-thirds majority)
  • universally accepted phrases (e.g., Twelve Apostles, Five Pillars of Islam)

Commas in numbers

  • Use commas between groups of three digits in most figures of 1,000 or more
  • Do not use commas in page numbers, binary digits, serial numbers, degrees of temperature, degrees of freedom, and acoustic frequencies above 1000.

Statistics (see APA Publication Manual Sections 6.40–6.45 for guidelines on reporting statistics)

  • Do not repeat statistics in both the text and a table or figure
  • In tables and figures, report exact p values (e.g., p = .015), unless p is < .001 (instead write as "<.001")
  • Put a space before and after a mathematical operator (e.g., minus, plus, greater than, less than). For a negative value, put a space only before the minus sign, not after it (e.g., –8.25)
  • Use the symbol or abbreviation for statistics with a mathematical operator (e.g., M = 7.7)
  • Use the term, not the symbol, for statistics in the text (e.g., the means were)

For more information, check out: Numbers and Statistics Guide, APA Style 7th Edition or Chapter 18: Numbers and Percentages, AMA Style 11th Edition

Start here for statistical reports, dossiers, analytics, infographics, and more.

 

Statistics are a tool that can be used to organize, summarize, and interpret information provided by research. 

The use of statistics in medicine provides generalizations for the public to better understand their health risks, such as links between certain behaviors and injury. A wide range of professions within the medical field use statistics, including physical therapists. Although statistical methods are used in current clinical studies, there is still ambivalence towards its application when medical practitioners treat individual patients and when students are preparing their research. Statistical evidence is often useful for backing up statements or assertions derivative of individual practice or experience.

These databases feature global and national data on a wide array of subjects, including physiotherapies.

Provides statistical data on many topics around the globe including health, society, technology, and education. Sources include market reports, opinion research institutions, trade publications, scientific journals, and government agencies. Infographics and charts can be downloaded in PNG, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF formats and bibliographic citations are available in a variety of styles.

The statistical abstract is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is also designed to serve as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. Published since 1878 by the U.S. Census Bureau, it includes medical data sets and subsets in health and nutrition.

 

See Core Literature databases for scientific and scholarly applications of biostatistics.