B. Burt Gerstman - Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for Public Health Practice

Basic Biostatistics

Statistics for Public Health Practice

SECOND EDITION

B. Burt Gerstman

Professor
Department of Health Science
San Jose State University
San Jose, California

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gerstman, B. Burt, author.

Basic biostatistics : statistics for public health practice / B. Burt Gerstman. -- Second edition.

p. ; cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-284-02546-0 (pbk.) -- ISBN 1-284-02546-2 (pbk.)

I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Biostatistics--methods. 2. Public Health Practice. WA 950]

RA409

362.10727--dc23

2013034384

6048

Printed in the United States of America

18 17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In memory of my father, Joseph, and my mother, Bernadine.

Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for Public Health, Second Edition is an introductory text that presents statistical ideas and techniques for students and workers in public health and biomedical research. The book is designed to be accessible to students with modest mathematical backgrounds. No more than high school algebra is needed to understand this book. With this said, I hope to get past the notion that biostatistics is just an extension of math. Biostatistics is much more than thatit is a combination of mathematics and careful reasoning. Do not let the former interfere with the later.

Biostatistical analysis is more than just number crunching. It considers how research questions are generated, studies are designed, data are collected, and results are interpreted.

Analysis of data, with a more or less statistical flavor, should play many roles.

Basic Biostatistics pays particular attention to exploratory and descriptive analyses. Whereas many introductory biostatistics texts give this topic intermittent attention, this text gives it ongoing consideration.

Both exploratory and confirmatory data analysis deserves our attention.

Biostatistics entails formulating research questions and designing processes for exploring and testing theories. I hope students who come to the study of biostatistics asking Whats the right answer? leave asking Was that the right question?

Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.

Several additional points bear emphasis:

Point 1: Practice, practice, practice. In studying biostatistics, you are developing a new set of reasoning skills. What is true of developing other skills is true of developing biostatistical skillsthe only way to get better is to practice with the proper awareness and attention. To this end, illustrative examples and exercises are incorporated throughout the book. Ive tried to make the illustrations and exercises relevant. Many have historical importance. Carefully following the reasoning of illustrations and exercises is an opportunity to learn. (Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn.) Answers to odd-numbered exercises are provided in the back of the book. Instructors may request the answers to even-numbered exercises from the publisher.

Point 2: Structure of book. The structure of this book may differ from that of other texts. Chapters are intentionally brief and limited in scope. This allows for flexibility in the order of coverage. The book is organized into three main parts..

), if this was the focus of the course.

Point 3: Hand calculations and computational support. While I believe there is still benefit in learning to calculate statistics by hand, students are encouraged to use statistical software to supplement hand calculations. Use of software tools can free us from some of the tedium of numerical manipulations, leaving more time to think about practical implications of results.