Statistical Methods for Rates & Proportions [Hardcover]

Joseph L. Fleiss (Author), Bruce Levin (Author), Myunghee Cho Paik (Author), Joseph Fleiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0471526290 | ISBN-13: 978-0471526292 | Edition: 3rd

"This book is to be recommended as a standard shelf reference . . . and as a ‘must’ to be read by all who wish to better use and understand data involving dichotomous or dichotomizable measurements."
—American Journal of Psychiatry

In the two decades since the second edition of Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions was published, evolving technologies and new methodologies have significantly changed the way today’s statistics are viewed and handled. The explosive development of personal computing and statistical software has facilitated the sophisticated analysis of data, putting capabilities that were once the domain of specialists into the hands of every researcher.

The Third Edition of this important text addresses these changes and brings the literature up to date. While the previous edition focused on the use of desktop and handheld calculators, the new edition takes full advantage of modern computing power without losing the elegant simplicity that made the text so popular with students and practitioners alike. In authoritative yet clear terminology, the authors have brought the science of data analysis up to date without compromising its accessibility.

Features of the Third Edition include:

• New material on sample size calculations and issues in clinical trials, and entirely new chapters on single-sample data, logistic regression, Poisson regression, regression models for matched samples, the analysis of correlated binary data, and methods for analyzing fourfold tables with missing data
• The addition of many new problems, both numerical and theoretical
• Answer sections for numerical problems and hints for tackling the theoretical ones
• A frequentist approach enhanced by the inclusion of empirical Bayesian methodology where appropriate

Combining the latest research with the original studies that established the previous editions as leaders in the field, Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions, Third Edition will continue to be an invaluable resource for students, statisticians, biostatisticians, and epidemiologists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A well written specialized book by Fleiss et al. illustrates in detail the definitions and importance of rates in health and other data analysis." (Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, April 2005)

"…the definitive text of context, method and application for the efficient analysis of rates and proportions…" (Statistics in Medicine, Vol 24 (17), 15^th September 2005)

"…well written in a thoroughly readable style. I highly recommend this book…" (Statistical Methods in Medical Research, Vol. 14, 2005)

"…persons who regularly encounter this type of data would certainly want this book available as one of their desk-top references." (Technometrics, May 2004)

From the Back Cover

"This book is to be recommended as a standard shelf reference . . . and as a ‘must’ to be read by all who wish to better use and understand data involving dichotomous or dichotomizable measurements."
—American Journal of Psychiatry

In the two decades since the second edition of Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions was published, evolving technologies and new methodologies have significantly changed the way today’s statistics are viewed and handled. The explosive development of personal computing and statistical software has facilitated the sophisticated analysis of data, putting capabilities that were once the domain of specialists into the hands of every researcher.

The Third Edition of this important text addresses these changes and brings the literature up to date. While the previous edition focused on the use of desktop and handheld calculators, the new edition takes full advantage of modern computing power without losing the elegant simplicity that made the text so popular with students and practitioners alike. In authoritative yet clear terminology, the authors have brought the science of data analysis up to date without compromising its accessibility.

Features of the Third Edition include:

• New material on sample size calculations and issues in clinical trials, and entirely new chapters on single-sample data, logistic regression, Poisson regression, regression models for matched samples, the analysis of correlated binary data, and methods for analyzing fourfold tables with missing data
• The addition of many new problems, both numerical and theoretical
• Answer sections for numerical problems and hints for tackling the theoretical ones
• A frequentist approach enhanced by the inclusion of empirical Bayesian methodology where appropriate

Combining the latest research with the original studies that established the previous editions as leaders in the field, Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions, Third Edition will continue to be an invaluable resource for students, statisticians, biostatisticians, and epidemiologists.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 800 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience; 3rd edition (September 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471526290
• ISBN-13: 978-0471526292
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, March 11, 2007

By 

Brant Inman (Somewhere out there) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Statistical Methods for Rates & Proportions (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent alternative to Agresti's "Categorical Data Analysis" for the analyzing of categorical data. The book is comprehensive and less mathematically demanding than Agresti. The book does a tremendous amount with contingency tables and epidemiologic types of data and has many good worked out examples.

There are a couple of features that could be improved in the next edition:

1) Give the statistical tests that are presented names.

Often statisitical procedures/tests are given and they are not given an explicit name. I think that this is an intentional practise of the authors, but I found it very confusing. For instance, there are many chi-square tests out there, each of which can be written in different ways. Why not call them "Pearson's chi-square", "Cochrane's chi-square", etc... so that the reader knows what the authors are talking about?

2) Not enough time devoted to the subject of combining simple proportions (i.e. not fourfold tables) from several samples/studies. Only one method is shown when several others exist.

3) ALL the common methods used to transform proportions should be presented and explained. For instance, the arcsine transformation is left for an exercise.

4) The writing was a bit terse and cryptic at times. I wish the authors had opted for a simpler English sentence structure and aimed to write at as low a level as practically possible. This encourages understanding of the topic rather than the development of eloquent prose.

5) The references were good but the way they were cited was not. In line author names is an outdated reference method that bogs down sentences and clutters pages with useless text. Simple numeric citation markers would have been better.

6) Bayesian methods are developed, but not a much as I might otherwise have hoped.