6.6.2 Regression

Whereas correlation simply quantifies the strength of association, regression analysis models the functional relationship between an independent (predictor)...

Whereas correlation simply quantifies the strength of association, regression analysis models the functional relationship between an independent (predictor) variable and a dependent (outcome) variable, allowing the outcome to be predicted from the predictor. Simple linear regression fits a straight-line relationship, commonly used in pharmacology to construct calibration curves during analytical method validation (relating instrument response to known analyte concentration) and to derive pharmacokinetic parameters from log-transformed concentration-time data. Non-linear regression, most prominently the four-parameter logistic model introduced below, is required whenever the underlying biological relationship is not linear, as is almost universally the case for dose-response pharmacology.