Product Description

This conceptually-based introduction to statistical procedures prepares public health and life sciences students to conduct and evaluate research in the biological and public health sciences. The authors illustrate that statistics is more than just "maths" - it's a viable field that has hundreds of applications and uses in the real world. The authors rely heavily on the book's graphics and the use of computers to help students make the calculations, giving them more time to concentrate on and learn the concepts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #787812 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 592 pages

Review
"I like the approach taken by these authors. The data examples are timely and fit well into a Public Health format...The statistical graphics are well handled in this text."

Customer Reviews

This is the most excellent book for biostatistics
This book comprehensively introduces important concepts and methods of biostatistics. I strongly recommend to read this book for clinicians and graduate students of public health.

Social scientists beware - research other options
I'm a postdoctoral level biomedical researcher who has used many other biostatistics books before. This book is currently used for entry-level biostatistics at my School of Public Health. The bonus is that this book is geared towards epidemiology (eg, there is a chapter on rates and standardization), and I liked the CDROM that comes with the book and contains datasets.

Unfortunately, the authors have chosen to derive many key concepts from probability theory. This is fine if you are comfortable with probability concepts. However, most students with background in social sciences are not: thus I found that this approach often adds an unnecessary level of complexity.

Most of the examples are long-winded, dragging on from page to page - flipping back and forth is extremely frustrating, and the layout makes it difficult to grasp what the point of each example is. Also, the long-winded style makes this book a poor desk reference if you just quickly need to check a formula or definition. Sadly I have to say that I very rarely use this $100+ book - there are plenty of more accessible and succinct entry-level texts that only cost a fraction of this volume.