Observations on the use of statistical methods in Food Science and Technology

Statistical methods are important aids to detect trends, explore relationships and draw conclusions from experimental data. However, it is not uncommon to find that many researchers apply statistical tests without first checking whether they are appropriate for the intended application. The aim of t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food research international 2014-01, Vol.55, p.137-149
Main Authors: Granato, Daniel, de Araújo Calado, Verônica Maria, Jarvis, Basil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aids
ANOVA
Biological and medical sciences
Correlation
Food industries
Foods
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Homogeneity
Multiple comparison tests
Normality
Regression
Regression analysis
Samples
Statistical analysis
Statistical methods
Statistical tests
Statistics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Statistical methods are important aids to detect trends, explore relationships and draw conclusions from experimental data. However, it is not uncommon to find that many researchers apply statistical tests without first checking whether they are appropriate for the intended application. The aim of this paper is to present some of the more important univariate and bivariate parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques and to highlight their uses based on practical examples in Food Science and Technology. The underlying requirements for use of particular statistical tests, together with their advantages and disadvantages in practical applications are also discussed, such as the need to check for normality and homogeneity of variances prior to the comparison of two or more sample sets in inference tests, correlation and regression analysis. •The paper reviews the most used statistical methods in Food Science.•Normality, homoscedasticity, correlation, regression, censored data are explained.•Requirements for use of these tests, advantages and disadvantages are discussed.
ISSN:0963-9969
1873-7145
DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2013.10.024