B: Inferential Statistics

Author(s):
Christina Bronson-Lowe, PhD, CCC-SLP, CLD Speech-language pathologist

Urbana, IL

Daniel Bronson-Lowe, PhD, CIC, FAPIC Senior Clinical Manager

Baxter International Inc.
Urbana, IL

Published:
January 18, 2024
Declarations of Conflicts of Interest:
  • Christina Bronson-Lowe reports no conflicts of interest.
  • Daniel Bronson-Lowe reports no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments:

The authors would like to thank all prior authors of the APIC Text Descriptive Statistics chapter for providing a strong basis of topics and content, Dr. Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz and Sarah Milligan for feedback, and Raquel Wojnar, Elizabeth Nishiura, and Rachel Walther for editorial work. This statistics discussion was also inspired by the graphical approach of Dr. Arthur Aron and Dr. Elaine N. Aron: Aron A, Aron EN. Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences: A Brief Course. New York: Prentice Hall; 1997.
Ref 13-8000 Aron A, Aron EN. Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences: A Brief Course. New York: Prentice Hall; 1997. - You do not have permission to view this object.

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the purpose, interpretation, and use of inferential statistics in the field of infection prevention and control. It addresses hypothesis construction and testing, the assumptions and distributions underlying statistical tests, statistical significance, power and effect size, confidence intervals, and choosing tests. Additional resources, including exercises and online tools and tutorials, are provided at the end of the chapter.