Statistics

^{While appraising an article on the utility of a particular antibiotic on the
treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia, the following points need to be considered
except:}

^{(a) The research question
(b) Were the patients randomized
(c) Were the patients and researchers blinded
(d) Was the data analyzed by a statistician

Answer: The answer is (d). While appraising a therapy article it is important to assess
the validity of the study. Looking for a proper answerable research question assesses the
validity of the study. Other important factors to be considered are whether the study was
a randomized, controlled and blinded study. This would ensure that biases are minimized.
Whether a statistician analyzed the data would not affect the study.}