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 general, 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.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are the little graphics in the margins of this book, and are used to draw your attention to certain

kinds of material. Here’s what they mean:

This icon signals information especially worth keeping in mind. Your main takeaways from

this book should be the material marked with this icon.

We use this icon to flag explanations of technical topics, such as derivations and

computational formulas that you don’t have to know to do biostatistics. They are included to give

you deeper insight into the material.

This icon refers to helpful hints, ideas, shortcuts, and rules of thumb that you can use to save

time or make a task easier. It also highlights different ways of thinking about a topic or concept.

This icon alerts you to discussion of a controversial topic, a concept that is often

misunderstand, or a pitfall or common mistake to guard against in biostatistics.