Vital Statistics

Vital Statistics: an introduction to health science statistics draws on real world, health-related and local examples, with a broad appeal to the Health Sciences student , it demonstrates how an understanding of statistics is useful both in the real world, and in statistics exams. Written in recognition of Health Sciences courses which require knowledge of statistical literacy, this book guides the reader to an understanding of why, as well as how and when to use statistics. It explores: How data relates to information, and how information relates to knowledge How to use statistics to distinguish information from disinformation The importance of probability, in statistics and in life That inferential statistics allow us to infer from samples to populations, and how useful such inferences can be How to appropriately apply and interpret statistical measures of difference and association How qualitative and quantitative methods differ, and when it’s appropriate to use each The special statistical needs of the health sciences, and some especially health science relevant statistics The vital importance of computers in the statistical analysis of data, and gives an overview of the most commonly used analyses By Stephen McKenzie, BA (Hons), PhD (Psychology). , Research and Evaluation Officer to the City of Greater Geelong’s implementation of the federal, state and local governments’ Healthy Together preventive health initiative. Previously Lecturer and Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, Deakin University Table of Contents: Chapter 1: A Fool-Resistant Introduction to statistics Chapter 2: Statistics as information Chapter 3: Descriptive statistics Chapter 4: Probability Chapter 5: Inferential statistics, sampling and hypothesis testing Chapter 6: Significance testing, beyond significance testing and experimental design Chapter 7: Measures of differences (1): t-tests and the chi-square test Chapter 8: Measures of differences (2): analysis of variance (ANOVA) Chapter 9: Measures of association (1): correlation Chapter 10: Measures of association (2): regression Chapter 11: Qualitative research methods Chapter 12: Statistics in the health sciences Chapter 13: Reliability, validity and norms Chapter 14: Statistics and the computer