Using InVivoStat to perform the statistical analysis of experiments

Abstract

The need to improve reproducibility and reliability of animal experiments has led some journals to increase the stringency of the criteria that must be satisfied before manuscripts can be considered suitable for publication. In this article we give advice on experimental design, including minimum group sizes, calculating statistical power and avoiding pseudo-replication, which can improve reproducibility. We also give advice on normalisation, transformations, the gateway analysis of variance strategy and the use of p-values and confidence intervals. Applying all these statistical procedures correctly will strengthen the validity of the conclusions. We discuss how InVivoStat, a free-to-use statistical software package, which was designed for life scientists, especially animal researchers, can be used to help with these principles.