Ten Projects in Applied Statistics

The book begins with ten chapters, each devoted to a detailed discussion of a specific project.The discussion specifically covers analyses that might seem superficially plausible, but are in fact misleading. Although computation plays a major role, the primary emphasis is on the translation of scientific concepts and ideas into statistical analyses. The areas of application range from medical and biological sciences to animal behavior studies, time series analysis and environmental research. Statistical techniques are kept as simple as is reasonable to do justice to the scientific goals. They range from linear models, to generalized linear models, variance-component models, time series and spatial processes.

The second half of the book begins by discussing a range of fundamental matters related to statistical design, the role of baseline covariates and relationships, initial values, observational units versus experimental units, randomization and treatment assignment, responses, prediction and parameter estimation.

The book is aimed at professional statisticians and at students who are already familiar with linear models but who wish to gain experience in the application of statistical ideas to scientific research. It is also aimed at scientific researchers who aim to use appropriate statistical methods in their work.