2 Biostatistics For Dummies

only include them when we think they help explain what’s going on. If you really

want to see them, you can find them in many biostatistics textbooks, and they’re

readily available online.

Because good study design is crucial for the success of any research, this book

gives special attention to the design of both epidemiologic studies and clinical tri-

als. We also pay special attention to providing advice on how to calculate the num-

ber of participants you need for your study. You will find easy-to-apply examples

of sample-size calculations in the chapters describing significance tests in

Parts 4, 5, and 6, and in Chapter 25.

Foolish Assumptions

We wrote this book to help several kinds of people. We assume you fall into one of

the following categories:»

» ^{Students at the undergraduate or graduate level who are taking a course in}

biostatistics and want help with the topics they’re studying in class»

» ^{Professionals who have had no formal biostatistical training, and possibly no}

statistical training at all, who now must analyze biological or research data as

part of their work»

» ^{Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who want to carry out}

human research

If you’re interested in biostatistics, then you’re no dummy! But perhaps you

sometimes feel like a dummy when it comes to biostatistics, or statistics in gen-

eral, or even mathematics. Don’t feel bad. We both have felt that way many times

over the years. In fact, we still feel like that whenever we are propelled into an

area of biostatistics with which we are unfamiliar, because it is new to us. (If you

haven’t taken a basic statistics course yet, you may want to get Statistics For

Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey, PhD — published by Wiley — and read parts of

that book first.)

What is important to keep in mind when learning biostatistics is that you don’t

have to be a math genius to be a good biostatistician. You also don’t need any

special math skills to be an excellent research scientist who can intelligently

design research studies, execute them well, collect and analyze data properly, and

draw valid conclusions. You just have to have a solid grasp of the basic concepts

and know how to utilize statistical software properly to obtain the output you need

and interpret it.