Further statistics in dentistry: Part 1: Research designs 1.

This new series of articles is designed to supplement, rather than replace, the material contained in the earlier series on statistics in dentistry published in the British Dental Journal and subsequently made available in book form.(1) With the increasing availability of calculators, personal computers and computer statistical software packages, the need for details of the 'nuts and bolts' of statistical theory has diminished, but the need for an understanding of how and when such theory should be applied, and how studies should be designed to make best use of it, has probably increased. It is with these thoughts in mind that this new series is being offered.