Essential statistics for the pharmaceutical sciences / Philip Rowe.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"... this text takes a novel approach... The style... is not as dry as other statistics texts, and so should not be intimidating even to a relative newcomer to the subject... The layout is easy to navigate, there are chapter aims, summaries and "key point boxes" throughout." -The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2008

This text is a clear, accessible introduction to the key statistical techniques employed for the analysis of data within this subject area. Written in a concise and logical manner, the book explains why statistics are necessary and discusses the issues that experimentalists need to consider. The reader is carefully taken through the whole process, from planning an experiment to interpreting the results, avoiding unnecessary calculation methodology. The most commonly used statistical methods are described in terms of their purpose, when they should be used and what they mean once they have been performed.

Numerous examples are provided throughout the text, all within a pharmaceutical context, with key points highlighted in summary boxes to aid student understanding.

Essential Statistics for the Pharmaceutical Sciences takes a new and innovative approach to statistics with an informal style that will appeal to the reader who finds statistics a challenge!

This book is an invaluable introduction to statistics for any science student. It is an essential text for students taking biomedical or pharmaceutical-based science degrees and also a useful guide for researchers.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• Statistical packages
• Part 1 Data Types
• 1 Data types
• 1.1 Does it really matter?
• 1.2 Interval scale data
• 1.3 Ordinal scale data
• 1.4 Nominal scale data
• 1.5 Structure of this book
• 1.6 Chapter summary
• Part 2 Interval-Scale Data
• 2 Descriptive statistics
• 2.1 Summarizing data sets
• 2.2 Indicators of central tendency. mean, median and mode
• 2.3 Describing variability. standard deviation and coefficient of variation
• 2.4 Quartiles. another way to describe data
• 2.5 Using computer packages to generate descriptive statistics
• 2.6 Chapter summary
• 3 The normal distribution
• 3.1 What is a normal distribution?
• 3.2 Identifying data that are not normally distributed
• 3.3 Proportions of individuals within one or two standard deviations of the mean
• 3.4 Chapter summary
• 4 Sampling from populations. the SEM
• 4.1 Samples and populations
• 4.2 From sample to population
• 4.3 Types of sampling error
• 4.4 What factors control the extent of random sampling error?
• 4.5 Estimating likely sampling error. The SEM
• 4.6 Offsetting sample size against standard deviation
• 4.7 Chapter summary
• 5 Ninety-five per cent confidence interval for the mean
• 5.1 What is a confidence interval?
• 5.2 How wide should the interval be?
• 5.3 What do we mean by '95 per cent' confidence?
• 5.4 Calculating the interval width
• 5.5 A long series of samples and 95 per cent confidence intervals
• 5.6 How sensitive is the width of the confidence interval to changes in the SD, the sample size or the required level of confidence?
• 5.7 Two statements
• 5.8 One-sided 95 per cent confidence intervals
• 5.9 The 95 per cent confidence interval for the difference between two treatments
• 5.10 The need for data to follow a normal distribution and data transformation
• 5.11 Chapter summary
• 6 The two-sample t-test(1).Introducing hypothesis tests
• 6.1 The two-sample t-test. an example of a hypothesis test
• 6.2 'Significance'
• 6.3 The risk of a false positive finding
• 6.4 What factors will influence whether or not we obtain a significant outcome?
• 6.5 Requirements for applying a two-sample t-test
• 6.6 Chapter summary
• 7 The two-sample t-test(2).The dreaded P value
• 7.1 Measuring how significant a result is
• 7.2 P values
• 7.3 Two ways to define significance?
• 7.4 Obtaining the P value
• 7.5 P values or 95 per cent confidence intervals?
• 7.6 Chapter summary
• 8 The two-sample t-test(3).False negatives, power and necessary sample sizes
• 8.1 What else could possibly go wrong?
• 8.2 Power
• 8.3 Calculating necessary sample size
• 8.4 Chapter summary
• 9 The two-sample t-test(4).Statistical significance, practical significance and equivalence
• 9.1 Practical significance. is the difference big enough to matter?
• 9.2 Equivalence testing
• 9.3 Non-inferiority testing
• 9.4 P values are less informative and can be positively misleading
• 9.5 Setting equivalence limits prior to experimentation
• 9.6 Chapter summary
• 10 The two-sample t-test(5).One-sided testing
• 10.1 Looking for a change in a specified direction
• 10.2 Protection against false positives
• 10.3 Temptation!
• 10.4 Using a computer package to carry out a one-sided test
• 10.5 Should one-sided tests be used more commonly?
• 10.5 Chapter summary
• 11 What does a statistically significant result really tell us?
• 11.1 Interpreting statistical significance
• 11.2 Starting from extreme scepticism
• 11.3 Chapter summary
• 12 The paired t-test. comparing two related s

Author notes provided by Syndetics