Principles of Biostatistics

Book excerpt: This edition is a reprint of the second edition published in 2000 by Brooks/Cole and then Cengage Learning. Principles of Biostatistics is aimed at students in the biological and health sciences who wish to learn modern research methods. It is based on a required course offered at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition to these graduate students, many health professionals from the Harvard medical area attend as well. The book is divided into three parts. The first five chapters deal with collections of numbers and ways in which to summarize, explore, and explain them. The next two chapters focus on probability and introduce the tools needed for the subsequent investigation of uncertainty. It is only in the eighth chapter and thereafter that the authors distinguish between populations and samples and begin to investigate the inherent variability introduced by sampling, thus progressing to inference. Postponing the slightly more difficult concepts until a solid foundation has been established makes it easier for the reader to comprehend them. All supplements, including a manual for students with solutions for odd-numbered exercises, a manual for instructors with solutions to all exercises, and selected data sets, are available at http://www.crcpress.com/9781138593145.