Regression assumptions in clinical psychology research practice - A systematic review of common misconceptions
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Abstract
Misconceptions about the assumptions behind the standard linear regression model are widespread and dangerous. These lead to using linear regression when inappropriate, and to employing alternative procedures with less statistical power when unnecessary. Our systematic literature review investigated employment and reporting of assumption checks in twelve clinical psychology journals. The selected journals were representative based on impact factor. Findings indicate that normality of the variables themselves, rather than of the residuals, was wrongfully held for a necessary assumption in 4% of papers that use regression. Furthermore, 92% of all papers using linear regression were unclear about their assumption checks, violating APA-recommendations. This paper appeals for a heightened awareness for and increased transparency in the reporting of statistical assumption checking.
Cite this as
2016. Regression assumptions in clinical psychology research practice - A systematic review of common misconceptions. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2602v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2602v1note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
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This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
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Supplemental Information
Supplementary Material
This supplementary material outlines the individual classi cation for each of the papers analysed.
Additional Information
Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Anja Franziska Ernst conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Casper J Albers conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
The raw data has been supplied as a supplementary file.
Funding
The authors received no funding for this work.
