Knowledge, Attitude and Perception Regarding Biostatistics Among Postgraduate Students in Dental Institutions of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Introduction: Biostatistics is a discipline concerned with how we ought to make decisions when analysing biomedical data. As statistics is desirable at every stage of research to obtain scientifically important information and reliable results, the importance of biostatistics should definitely be informed to the researchers in health sciences. Aim: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and perception of dental professionals towards biostatistics. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and perception regarding biostatistics among 721 postgraduate students in dental institutions of Andhra Pradesh. All the participants were provided with a pre-structured questionnaire comprising 21 questions, and answering was completely self-paced. Results: Among the respondents, 86% were aware of the importance of biostatistics in research. Forty-five percent of the respondents attempted to perform statistical analysis on their own. Of all the students, 53% were unable to identify the commonly used parametric tests in clinical trials. Conclusion: Majority of the participants were aware of the importance of biostatistics, but only a few of them attempted to perform statistical analysis. Therefore, dental institutions should take initiatives in organising workshops and training programmes for learning and application of biostatistics, concomitantly encourage research activity to conduct valuable research and add up evidence to literature.

Keywords

• Biostatistics knowledge
• dental postgraduate
• research methods
• students