Biostatistical Analysis (4th Edition) [Hardcover]

Jerrold H. Zar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 1998 | ISBN-10: 013081542X | ISBN-13: 978-0130815422 | Edition: 4

The latest edition of this best-selling biostatistics book is both comprehensive and easy to read. It provides a broad and practical overview of the statistical analysis methods used by researchers to collect, summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from biological research data. The Fourth Edition can serve as either an introduction to the discipline for beginning students or a comprehensive procedural reference for today's practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book combines useful explanations of statistical methods in the biological sciences with statistical graphs and tables frequently employed by researchers. It requires no previous knowledge of statistics and can be used as a reference tool for those looking for information on population sampling, frequency analysis, probabilities, and more.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

This long-awaited revision of this best-selling biostatistics text is both comprehensive and easy to read. Provides a broad and practical overview of the statistical analysis methods used by researchers to collect, summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from biological research data. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 929 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (October 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013081542X
• ISBN-13: 978-0130815422
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference text on biostatistical analysis, May 22, 2000

By 

Alan R. Holyoak - See all my reviews

This review is from: Biostatistical Analysis (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

This book and BIOMETRY by Sokal and Rohlf are the two standard statistics books that live on the shelves of most biological researchers.

Zar makes methods and interpretations of statistical analyses accessible and understandable. There are suffient numbers of statistical tests in the text to cover most of my statistical needs. The book also includes its own tables of critical values (something that BIOMETRY does not -- there's a paperback companion book of tables for that book). Zar also includes examples that are easy to follow, as well as enough mathematical background to allow one to understand the hypothetical and much of the mathematics behind the statistical methods.

I typically turn to Zar first when I have a statistical question. This book continues to be a highly prized ally of mine in the data analysis game.

I highly recommend this book to all biology grad students and researchers. It's well worth the price -- an investment that pays off!

5 stars, no doubt about it.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent biostatistics text, February 7, 2008

By 

Michael R. Chernick "statman31147" (Holland PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Biostatistical Analysis (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is popular because it is well written and authoritative. It is written for biologists, medical students and researchers who do not have any prior knowledge of probability or statistics and may have little mathematical training as well. It serves as an introductory text providing many homework exercises. It can also be used as a reference. It is very thorough and covers most of the important topics required for biological problems. The needed probability is introduced when necessary.
There is the usual emphasis on hypothesis testing and regression. Correlation and analysis of variance are also very well covered. Important issues of sample size determination are covered and many solutions are provided in easy to use box descriptions.

As the author points out in the preface, in order to make this text a good reference it is extensive (663 pages of text followed by appendices and a large number of tables). It also includes a wealth of useful reference articles and books. Consequently, there is too much material for a one semester course. The author provides instructors with guidelines for sections to cover in an introductory course.

Notable topics covered in this text that is rarely found in introductory biostatistics books include multivariate methods especially the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)and inference for circular data.

Recent developments in meta analysis, Bayesian statistics and bootstrap methods are not covered. In fact, these topics are not covered at all. Also, the important topic of missing data is omitted. Outliers are only covered briefly and just a few references are given but the major references, the texts by Hawkins and the treatise of Barnett and Lewis are neglected.

I am currently working on an elementary text that will have the advantage of some real world applications and modern developments. There are a few other elementary statistical texts for biology that are worth considering including Motulsky's "Intuitive Biostatistics" and

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for biostatistical experimental design, February 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Biostatistical Analysis (Hardcover)

This textbook covers a very broad spectrum of biostatistics. It is the best reference for design and analysis of experiments, regardless of the application. This opinion is coming from a person with an MS in statistics. -Brian Mayeux statistician for NIOSH (CDC).