Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Apr;24(4):781-90.
doi: 10.1002/oby.21449.

Common scientific and statistical errors in obesity research

Brandon J George  1 , T Mark Beasley  2 , Andrew W Brown  1   3 , John Dawson  4 , Rositsa Dimova  5 , Jasmin Divers  6 , TaShauna U Goldsby  1   3 , Moonseong Heo  7 , Kathryn A Kaiser  1   3 , Scott W Keith  8 , Mimi Y Kim  7 , Peng Li  1   2 , Tapan Mehta  3   9 , J Michael Oakes  10 , Asheley Skinner  11 , Elizabeth Stuart  12 , David B Allison  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Common scientific and statistical errors in obesity research

Brandon J George et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016 Apr.

Abstract

This review identifies 10 common errors and problems in the statistical analysis, design, interpretation, and reporting of obesity research and discuss how they can be avoided. The 10 topics are: 1) misinterpretation of statistical significance, 2) inappropriate testing against baseline values, 3) excessive and undisclosed multiple testing and "P-value hacking," 4) mishandling of clustering in cluster randomized trials, 5) misconceptions about nonparametric tests, 6) mishandling of missing data, 7) miscalculation of effect sizes, 8) ignoring regression to the mean, 9) ignoring confirmation bias, and 10) insufficient statistical reporting. It is hoped that discussion of these errors can improve the quality of obesity research by helping researchers to implement proper statistical practice and to know when to seek the help of a statistician.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Li P, Brown AW, Oakes JM, Allison DB. Comment on “Intervention Effects of a School-Based Health Promotion Programme on Obesity Related Behavioural Outcomes”. Journal of Obesity. 2015;2015:2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown AW, Sievenpiper JL, Kyle TA, Kaiser KA. Communication of randomized controlled trial results must match the study focus. The Journal of nutrition. 2015;145:1027–1029. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown AW, Li P, Bohan Brown MM, Kaiser KA, Keith SW, Oakes JM, et al. Best (but often forgotten) practices: designing, analyzing, and reporting cluster randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102:241–248. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Levitsky DA, Brown AW, Hansen BC, Atkinson RL, Byrne N, Cheskin LJ, et al. An Unjustified Conclusion from Self-report-based Estimates of Energy Intake. The American Journal of Medicine. 2014;127:e33. - PubMed
    1. Dhurandhar NV, Schoeller D, Brown AW, Heymsfield SB, Thomas D, Sorensen TI, et al. Energy balance measurement: when something is not better than nothing. International journal of obesity. 2014;39:1109–1113. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types