Chapter 1. What Is Statistics? How Is It Applied to the Health Sciences?

  1. Michael R. Chernick1,
  2. Robert H. Friis2

Published Online: 11 APR 2003

DOI: 10.1002/0471458716.ch1

Book Title

Introductory Biostatistics for the Health Sciences: Modern Applications Including Bootstrap

Introductory Biostatistics for the Health Sciences: Modern Applications Including Bootstrap

Additional Information

How to Cite

Chernick, M. R. and Friis, R. H. (2003) What Is Statistics? How Is It Applied to the Health Sciences?, in Introductory Biostatistics for the Health Sciences: Modern Applications Including Bootstrap, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA. doi: 10.1002/0471458716.ch1

Author Information

  1. 1

    Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, USA

  2. 2

    California State University, Long Beach, California, USA

Publication History

  1. Published Online: 11 APR 2003
  2. Published Print: 21 FEB 2003

ISBN Information

Print ISBN: 9780471411376

Online ISBN: 9780471458715

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Keywords:

  • descriptive statistics;
  • inferential statistics;
  • cross-sectional study;
  • retrospective study;
  • prospective study;
  • clinical trial;
  • epidemiology

Summary

Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the field of biostatistics as it is applied to the health sciences. Topics covered in this chapter include:

  • Definitions of the term statistics

  • A brief history of statistics

  • Reasons for studying statistics–how statistics are applied to practical situations

  • Categories of study designs–cross-sectional, retrospective, prospective, experimental

  • Clinical trials

  • Epidemiologic studies

  • Pharmacoeconomic studies

  • Sources of data used by statisticians

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