Tansley’s publication On competition between Galium saxatile and Galium sylvestre on different types of soil was published in 1917 though there is an important factor that is missing from the study, which is a statistical analysis.
A statistical analysis is a very important addition to research conducted today especially in scientific research though statistical analysis’ importance is not just restricted to science. Tansley’s 1917 research paper lacks the presence of a statistical analysis despite presenting data with averages. Even with the averages of the data present there is no way to conclude whether the data obtain can be considered as significant or not.
Statistical analysis was first developed during the 19th century indicating that Tansley was in an era that statistical analysis was available for use. Today there are various different types of statistical analysis that can be used including T-tests, Annova, Chi square, and so forth. With the presence of computers there are various software that can easily perform such statistical analysis for us such as SAS which is free to use albeit quite frustrating to use as those who have gone through bio-statistics can attest to . For York University students we have SPSS 26 which much more user friendly and is free for all York University students at the following website https://myapps.yorku.ca/
Those having trouble with statistical analyses on SPSS 26 can also find great videos online and goes through step by step on inputting your data for specific types of statistical analysis
To learn more about the importance of statistical analysis in science, follow the link to another blog post explaining the importance of statistical analysis https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/importance-statistics/
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 