Toward standardization of statistical reporting in studies on entheseal changes

Abstract

Statistical analysis, while at first glance an objective way to extract insights from data, remains at its core a human endeavor. Elements of subjectivity are introduced by the many decisions that go into the selection of a statistical method. Such subjectivity may harm the evidentiary value of results from statistical analyses. Standardization of statistical methods decreases the degrees of freedom available to researchers and may thus be seen as a way to increase the objectivity of the analysis. Here, we argue that standardization of methods is not only impossible because statistical methods rely on assumptions that need to be considered on a case-by-case basis but also undesirable because it may block innovation. We propose that the entheseal changes field is better served by standardization of reporting and discuss how reporting guidelines may be developed based on examples from biostatistics.