title: How to draw the line in biomedical research.
abstract: The use of the least squares method to calculate the best-fitting line through a two-dimensional scatter plot typically requires the user to assume that one of the variables depends on the other. However, in many cases the relationship between the two variables is more complex, and it is not valid to say that one variable is independent and the other is dependent. When analysing such data researchers should consider plotting the three regression lines that can be calculated for any two-dimensional scatter plot.
authors.affiliation: is in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore , United States and the Department of Biostatistics , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , Baltimore , United States chuang36@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rattner
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nathans
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis
keywords: Tutorial; publishing; statistics
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