Analysis of the Statistical Techniques and Errors in the Field of Sasang Constitution Researches: from 2011 to 2015

Analysis of the Statistical Techniques and Errors in the Field of Sasang Constitution Researches: from 2011 to 2015 Sujung Kim, Sanghyuk Kim, Siwoo Lee Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine Objectives This study was to identify the types of errors in the statistical analysis and trends of previous reported papers that used various statistical techniques. Methods We have selected 118 original articles for statistical review from the OASIS(http://oasis.kiom.re.kr) and the Pubmed(http://www.pubmed.gov) in the field of Sasang constitutional medicine. Published year was restricted from 2011 to 2015. Results 1. The ANOVA(25.72%) was the statistic of choice overall, followed by the chi-square test(21.74%), regression analysis(14.13%), t-test(11.59%), and etc. 2. By examining the errors of the statistical methods, there were 42(59.2%) thesis with errors among 71 thesis using ANOVA, 19(31.7%) thesis among 60 thesis using chi-square test, and 35(89.7%) over 39 thesis using regression analysis. Conclusions To improve the quality of Sasang Constitution, the participation of statisticians in research design will reduce the significant errors in statistical interpretation of the results.