Anyone who attempts to read genetics or epidemiology research literature needs to understand the essentials of biostatistics. This book, a revised new edition of the successful Essentials of Biostatistics has been written to provide such an understanding to those who have little or no statistical background and who need to keep abreast of new findings in this fast moving field. Unlike many other elementary books on biostatistics, the main focus of this book is to explain basic concepts needed to understand statistical procedures.

This Book:

• Surveys basic statistical methods used in the genetics and epidemiology literature, including maximum likelihood and least squares.
• Introduces methods, such as permutation testing and bootstrapping, that are becoming more widely used in both genetic and epidemiological research.
• Is illustrated throughout with simple examples to clarify the statistical methodology.
• Explains Bayes' theorem pictorially.
• Features exercises, with answers to alternate questions, enabling use as a course text.

Written at an elementary mathematical level so that readers with high school mathematics will find the content accessible. Graduate students studying genetic epidemiology, researchers and practitioners from genetics, epidemiology, biology, medical research and statistics will find this an invaluable introduction to statistics.

About the Author

Robert C. Elston Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, USA.

William D. Johnson Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, USA.

Reviews

"The book is unusual in having less ambitious goals than the average statistics textbook. The focus is not to teach applications but, as the preface maintains, simply to enable readers to knowledgeably read the new literature, to understand the statistical methods used, and thereby to better keep abreast of new findings in epidemiology and genetics." (JAMA, September 13, 2010)

"This is a well-written and comprehensive review of the basic (and not-so-basic) concepts and techniques in biostatistics. It is understandable to biologists and clinicians, while still providing useful pointers and reminders to statisticians. It is worth a place on the bookshelves of all researchers in genetics, regardless of their statistical expertise." (Human Genetics, February 2010)

"Anyone who wishes to critically read biomedical literature will find the knowledge gained from reading [the text] of great value." (American Journal of Epidemiology, 2009)

Book Information
ISBN 9780470024904
Author Robert C. Elston
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint John Wiley & Sons Inc
Publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc
Weight(grams) 680g
Dimensions(mm) 244mm * 173mm * 23mm