ABSTRACT
In an official journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation, Glantz presented a statistic on the misuse of statistics: Approximately half the articles published in medical journals that use statistical methods use them incorrectly. Glantz’s shocking article prompted the editors of Circulation to revise their review mechanism to help assure proper use of statistical methods in papers they publish. Most of the errors tabulated in the above study involved inappropriate use of the Student t-test. In 1975 Box and Tiao published a paper entitled “Intervention Analysis with Applications to Economic and Environmental Problems.” A motivation behind the proposed two-stage test-of-significance was that statistical methods usually take the place of a scientist’s instinct and subject-matter knowledge. The original intention of statistical testing was to protect scientists from drawing false conclusions in the face of chance effect. Modern astrophysicists conclude that our universe is filled with ultra-smooth cosmic blackbody radiation.
