3. Linear regression - Difference between correlation and regression analysis

This video describes the fundamental differences between regression and correlation analysis.

A linear regression analysis is used to predict outcomes between two variables, with the dependent variable being a quantitative or numerical variable. So in essence, this can be thought of as a "prediction" analysis for quantitative variables. An equation for a trend line (eg, y = mx + c, where m is the slope and c is the constant) can also be obtained from this analysis which can be plotted in the form of a graph in any graphing calculator.

The analysis shown here is done in the statistical software package - JASP

This tutorial shows how statistical analysis can be done free of cost, by anyone, irrespective of their mathematical aptitude. These tutorials are made especially for medical students and residents or any researcher in health-care, who need data quickly analyzed, with tables, graphs, and plots conveying maximum information, and also reporting those results in a standard manner, so that writing the 'materials and methods' and 'results' section of the manuscript becomes a cake-walk.

Statistics, especially biostatistics, is an enigma all throughout undergraduate days for medical students. Applying a few formulae which didn't even make sense during a 15 minute biostatistics exam was all that was expected.

When it comes to research however, students often employ the services of a statistician to help analyze their data.
Seldom do students do statistical analyses on their own.
The following video series will help medical students to analyze their own data.

Our tool of choice is going to be JASP software, which is an excellent and free, open-source alternative to the gold-standard SPSS software, which needs users to pay to use the software - a luxury students cannot afford!

The following series is going to focus on how to use the software to do statistical analyses, quite unlike what is taught in most medical schools. I hope that this series will help medical students to take up research early on in their undergraduate days, and also analyze their own data by themselves, completely independently. I also hope that this will change the perspective of biostatistics that medical students have, which is inculcated by the syllabus studied during their MBBS days.