What's the difference? Pediatric residents and their inaccurate concepts regarding statistics

Two multiple-choice questions were designed to assess pediatric knowledge of two statistical concepts: (1) correlation and (2) probability values for statistical significance. One question was administered to 684 residents from 24 major pediatric training programs; this response rate represented 84% of all residents in these programs (PL-1, PL-2, and PL-3 years). In 20 of these programs, the second question was administered to 437 residents, representing a 79% response rate. Less than 20% of the residents responded correctly to the first question, and approximately half chose correctly on the second question. Further, no trend toward improvement was apparent with additional years of residency training. This limited knowledge of statistical concepts suggests that pediatricians are not well equipped to evaluate the scientific merit of research reported in pediatric journals.