USING STATISTICAL EQUIVALENCE TESTING IN CLINICAL BIOFEEDBACK RESEARCH

The technique of statistical equivalence testing is described and reco mmended for use in clinical biofeedback research. Equivalence testing is valuable in aiding the interpretation of negative results or statis tically significant results where effects are small in clinical terms. The method is also useful for establishing the similarity of treatmen t groups at baseline or for showing that the effect of a potentially c onfounding variable is tolerably small. Finally, equivalence testing i s recommended as a method for documenting the equivalence of biofeedba ck therapy to proven conventional medical therapies in clinical equiva lence trials. Examples, drawn from published literature, are provided.