Basic Statistics for the Exotic Animal Practitioner

Clinical research attempts to answer questions about patient populations by studying small samples of patients drawn from those populations. Statistics are used to describe the data collected in a study and to make inferences about the larger populations. Practitioners of evidence-based practice need a basic understanding of these principles to critically appraise the results of research studies. The main paradigm for statistical inference in medicine is called hypothesis testing, which involves generating a null hypothesis and examining the strength of evidence against it.