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| TECHNOLOGY REVIEW |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 66
| Issue : 2 | Page : 94-98 |
Aleatory and epistemic uncertainties can completely derail medical research results
A Indrayan
Department of Clinical Research, Max Healthcare Institute, Saket, New Delhi, India
Correspondence Address:
A Indrayan
Department of Clinical Research, Max Healthcare Institute, Saket, New Delhi
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jpgm.JPGM_585_19
Aleatory uncertainties are generated by intrinsic factors such as studying a sample rather than the whole population and the source of epistemic uncertainties is extraneous such as limitations of knowledge. These uncertainties inflict all the findings in empirical medical research, but they are rarely appreciated. This article highlights these uncertainties and shows with the help of an example how apparently valid and reliable findings can completely derail due to these uncertainties. We conclude that aleatory and epistemic uncertainties should get due consideration while drawing conclusions and before the results are put into practice. Methods to reduce their impact on results are also presented.
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