Variability: Human nature and its impact on measurement and statistical analysis

Heng Li; Zezhao Chen; Weimo Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.jshs.2019.06.002

Variability: Human nature and its impact on measurement and statistical analysis

J Sport Health Sci. 2019 Nov;8(6):527-531. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2019.06.002. Epub 2019 Jun 18.

Authors

Heng Li¹, Zezhao Chen², Weimo Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.
² Department of Kinesiology & Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Abstract

•Variability is a human nature and large or small variability could directly impact our measurement and statistical data analysis practice.•If not handle correctly, variability could lead to incorrect conclusion or misleading statement on research findings.•Using real and hypothetical data, common errors in measurement and analyzing of variability were illustrated and how to address the errors were highlighted.•There is a call for improving in measurement techniques and better statistical training for handling variability.