Statistics For Terrified Biologists

“We highly recommend it—not just for statistically terrified biology students and faculty, but also for those who are occasionally anxious or uncertain. In addition to being a good starting point to learn statistics, it is a useful place to return to refresh your memory.” –The Quarterly Review of Biology, March 2009 "During the entire course of my Ph.D. I've been (embarrasingly) looking for a way to teach myself the fundamentals of statistical analysis. At this point in my education, I've come to realize that often times, simply knowing the basics is enough for you to properly apply even the most complex analytical methods. ‘Statistics for Terrified Biologists’ has been just such a book - it was more than worth the $40 I spent on it, and while my 'book clubs' aren't meant to be reviews, I highly recommend the book to anyone who's in a similar predicament to my own." –Carlo Artieri's Blog Book Club The typical biology student is “hardwired” to be wary of any tasks involving the application of mathematics and statistical analyses, but the plain fact is much of biology requires interpretation of experimental data through the use of statistical methods. This unique textbook aims to demystify statistical formulae for the average biology student. Written in a lively and engaging style, Statistics for Terrified Biologists draws on the author’s 30 years of lecturing experience. One of the foremost entomologists of his generation, van Emden has an extensive track record for successfully teaching statistical methods to even the most guarded of biology students. For the first time basic methods are presented using straightforward, jargon-free language. Students are taught to use simple formulae accurately to interpret what is being measured with each test and statistic, while at the same time learning to recognize overall patterns and guiding principles. Complemented by simple illustrations and useful case studies, this is an ideal statistics resource tool for undergraduate biology and environmental science students who lack confidence in their mathematical abilities.

Makes mathematical and statistical analysis understandable to even the least math-minded biology student This unique textbook aims to demystify statistical formulae for the average biology student. Written in a lively and engaging style, Statistics for Terrified Biologists, 2nd Edition draws on the author’s 30 years of lecturing experience to teach statistical methods to even the most guarded of biology students. It presents basic methods using straightforward, jargon-free language. Students are taught to use simple formulae and how to interpret what is being measured with each test and statistic, while at the same time learning to recognize overall patterns and guiding principles. Complemented by simple examples and useful case studies, this is an ideal statistics resource tool for undergraduate biology and environmental science students who lack confidence in their mathematical abilities. Statistics for Terrified Biologists presents readers with the basic foundations of parametric statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, linear regression and chi-square, and guides them to important extensions of these techniques. It introduces them to non-parametric tests, and includes a checklist of non-parametric methods linked to their parametric counterparts. The book also provides many end-of-chapter summaries and additional exercises to help readers understand and practice what they’ve learned. Presented in a clear and easy-to-understand style Makes statistics tangible and enjoyable for even the most hesitant student Features multiple formulas to facilitate comprehension Written by of the foremost entomologists of his generation This second edition of Statistics for Terrified Biologists is an invaluable guide that will be of great benefit to pre-health and biology undergraduate students.

Makes mathematical and statistical analysis understandable to even the least math-minded biology student This unique textbook aims to demystify statistical formulae for the average biology student. Written in a lively and engaging style, Statistics for Terrified Biologists, 2nd Edition draws on the author’s 30 years of lecturing experience to teach statistical methods to even the most guarded of biology students. It presents basic methods using straightforward, jargon-free language. Students are taught to use simple formulae and how to interpret what is being measured with each test and statistic, while at the same time learning to recognize overall patterns and guiding principles. Complemented by simple examples and useful case studies, this is an ideal statistics resource tool for undergraduate biology and environmental science students who lack confidence in their mathematical abilities. Statistics for Terrified Biologists presents readers with the basic foundations of parametric statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, linear regression and chi-square, and guides them to important extensions of these techniques. It introduces them to non-parametric tests, and includes a checklist of non-parametric methods linked to their parametric counterparts. The book also provides many end-of-chapter summaries and additional exercises to help readers understand and practice what they’ve learned. Presented in a clear and easy-to-understand style Makes statistics tangible and enjoyable for even the most hesitant student Features multiple formulas to facilitate comprehension Written by of the foremost entomologists of his generation This second edition of Statistics for Terrified Biologists is an invaluable guide that will be of great benefit to pre-health and biology undergraduate students.

Applying statistical results to real life situations can be difficult or futile if you can't be certain what the results actually mean. This reference guide provides readers with the frequently elusive link between statistical results and practical applications. Students will learn the basic concepts and principles of statistics and probability, without getting bogged down in complicated theories and abstractions. Many statistics texts rely too heavily on mathematical formulas. Kault restores the emphasis to understanding statistical results and using common sense in decision making. Everyday examples bring the concepts to life. In the entry on hypothesis testing, Kault examines how a statistical result incorrectly overruled the common sense of many doctors. A chapter on random variables shows the chance that students will carry cell phones, and a chapter on categorical measurements uses statistics to determine the efficiency of a new treatment for a serious disease. Each chapter ends with questions that will help students further understand important concepts. Useful on its own and perfect as a means of expanding classroom discussions, this book is ideal for high school students or anyone needing to review the basics of statistics.

An introductory level text covering linear, generalized linear, linear mixed-effects, and generalized mixed models implemented in R and set within a contemporary framework.

The effective design of scientific experiments is critical to success, yet graduate students receive very little formal training in how to do it. Based on a well-received course taught by the author, Experimental Design for Biologistsfills this gap. Experimental Design for Biologistsexplains how to establish the framework for an experimental project, how to set up a system, design experiments within that system, and how to determine and use the correct set of controls. Separate chapters are devoted to negative controls, positive controls, and other categories of controls that are perhaps less recognized, such as “assumption controls†and “experimentalist controls†. Furthermore, there are sections on establishing the experimental system, which include performing critical “system controls†. Should all experimental plans be hypothesis-driven? Is a question/answer approach more appropriate? What was the hypothesis behind the Human Genome Project? What color is the sky? How does one get to Carnegie Hall? The answers to these kinds of questions can be found in Experimental Design for Biologists. Written in an engaging manner, the book provides compelling lessons in framing an experimental question, establishing a validated system to answer the question, and deriving verifiable models from experimental data. Experimental Design for Biologistsis an essential source of theory and practical guidance in designing a research plan.

Full of biological applications, exercises, and interactive graphical examples, this text presents comprehensive coverage of both modern analytical methods and statistical foundations. The author harnesses the inherent properties of the R environment to enable students to examine the code of complicated procedures step by step and thus better understand the process of obtaining analysis results. The graphical capabilities of R are used to provide interactive demonstrations of simple to complex statistical concepts. R code and other materials are available online.

Winner of the 2013 DeGroot Prize. A state-of-the-art presentation of spatio-temporal processes, bridging classic ideas with modern hierarchical statistical modeling concepts and the latest computational methods Noel Cressie and Christopher K. Wikle, are also winners of the 2011 PROSE Award in the Mathematics category, for the book “Statistics for Spatio-Temporal Data” (2011), published by John Wiley and Sons. (The PROSE awards, for Professional and Scholarly Excellence, are given by the Association of American Publishers, the national trade association of the US book publishing industry.) Statistics for Spatio-Temporal Data has now been reprinted with small corrections to the text and the bibliography. The overall content and pagination of the new printing remains the same; the difference comes in the form of corrections to typographical errors, editing of incomplete and missing references, and some updated spatio-temporal interpretations. From understanding environmental processes and climate trends to developing new technologies for mapping public-health data and the spread of invasive-species, there is a high demand for statistical analyses of data that take spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal information into account. Statistics for Spatio-Temporal Data presents a systematic approach to key quantitative techniques that incorporate the latest advances in statistical computing as well as hierarchical, particularly Bayesian, statistical modeling, with an emphasis on dynamical spatio-temporal models. Cressie and Wikle supply a unique presentation that incorporates ideas from the areas of time series and spatial statistics as well as stochastic processes. Beginning with separate treatments of temporal data and spatial data, the book combines these concepts to discuss spatio-temporal statistical methods for understanding complex processes. Topics of coverage include: Exploratory methods for spatio-temporal data, including visualization, spectral analysis, empirical orthogonal function analysis, and LISAs Spatio-temporal covariance functions, spatio-temporal kriging, and time series of spatial processes Development of hierarchical dynamical spatio-temporal models (DSTMs), with discussion of linear and nonlinear DSTMs and computational algorithms for their implementation Quantifying and exploring spatio-temporal variability in scientific applications, including case studies based on real-world environmental data Throughout the book, interesting applications demonstrate the relevance of the presented concepts. Vivid, full-color graphics emphasize the visual nature of the topic, and a related FTP site contains supplementary material. Statistics for Spatio-Temporal Data is an excellent book for a graduate-level course on spatio-temporal statistics. It is also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the fields of applied mathematics, engineering, and the environmental and health sciences.

“If you liked Chaos, you’ll love Complexity. Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year” (The Washington Post). In a rarified world of scientific research, a revolution has been brewing. Its activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians, and computer scientists from all over the world. They have formed an iconoclastic think-tank and their radical idea is to create a new science: complexity. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell—and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. This book is their story—the story of how they have tried to forge what they like to call the science of the twenty-first century. “Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner . . . [Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.” —The New York Times Book Review “Where I enjoyed the book was when it dove into the actual question of complexity, talking about complex systems in economics, biology, genetics, computer modeling, and so on. Snippets of rare beauty here and there almost took your breath away.” —Medium “[Waldrop] provides a good grounding of what may indeed be the first flowering of a new science.” —Publishers Weekly