Choosing and using statistics : a biologist's guide / Calvin Dytham.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Choosing and Using Statistics remains an invaluable guide for students using a computer package to analyse data from research projects and practical class work. The text takes a pragmatic approach to statistics with a strong focus on what is actually needed. There are chapters giving useful advice on the basics of statistics and guidance on the presentation of data. The book is built around a key to selecting the correct statistical test and then gives clear guidance on how to carry out the test and interpret the output from four commonly used computer packages: SPSS, Minitab, Excel, and (new to this edition) the free program, R. Only the basics of formal statistics are described and the emphasis is on jargon-free English but any unfamiliar words can be looked up in the extensive glossary. This new 3rd edition of Choosing and Using Statistics is a must for all students who use a computer package to apply statistics in practical and project work.

Features new to this edition:

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• 1 Eight steps to successful data analysis
• 2 The basics
• Observations
• Hypothesis testing
• P-values
• Sampling
• Experiments
• Statistics
• 3 Choosing a test: a key
• Remember: eight steps to successful data analysis
• The art of choosing a test
• A key to assist in your choice of statistical test
• 4 Hypothesis testing, sampling and experimental design
• Hypothesis testing
• Acceptable errors
• P-values
• Sampling
• Experimental design
• 5 Statistics, variables and distributions
• What are statistics?
• Types of statistics
• What is a variable?
• Types of variables or scales of measurement
• Types of distribution
• Discrete distributions
• Continuous distributions
• Non-parametric 'distributions'
• 6 Descriptive and presentational techniques
• General advice
• Displaying data: summarizing a single variable
• Displaying data: showing the distribution of a single variable
• Descriptive statistics
• Using the computer packages
• Displaying data: summarizing two or more variables
• Displaying data: comparing two variables
• Displaying data: comparing more than two variables
• 7 The tests 1: tests to look at differences
• Do frequency distributions differ?
• Do the observations from two groups differ?
• Do the observations from more than two groups differ?
• There are two independent ways of classifying the data
• More than one observation for each factor combination (with replication)
• There are more than two independent ways to classify the data
• Not all classifications are independent
• Nested or hierarchical designs
• 8 The tests 2: tests to look at relationships
• Is there a correlation or association between two variables?
• Is there a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables?
• Tests for more than two variables
• 9 The tests 3: tests for data exploration
• Types of data
• Observation, inspection and plotting
• Symbols and letters used in statistics
• Greek letters
• Symbols
• Upper-case letters
• Lower-case letters
• Glossary
• Assumptions of the tests
• Hints and tips
• A table of statistical tests
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics