Statistics and ethics in medical research

Ethical conduct is an essential component in research, especially in medica l research. Statistical methods for design and analysis are powerful resear ch tools if used properly. Abuse of these principles and methods are just a s unethical as other laboratory or clinical misconduct, Inadequate research design can produce worthless results and thus wastes effort and valuable r esources. For clinical research, patient resources ale wasted. Inappropriat e analysis of data can also produce misleading results and conclusions. For clinical research, inferior therapy might be given to patients as a conseq uence. These ethical concerns can have implications for and affect the indi viduals responsible for the statistical design and analysis. Examples are p rovided which illustrate some possible abuses and inappropriate pressures.