Beyond the Book

In addition to the abundance of information and guidance related to using biostatistics for analysis of

research data that we provide in this book, you get access to even more help and information online at

Dummies.com. Check out this book’s online Cheat Sheet. Just go to www.dummies.com and search for

“Biostatistics For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”

Where to Go from Here

You’re already off to a good start! You’ve read this introduction, so you have a good idea of what this

book is all about. For a more detailed list of topics, take a look at the Contents at a Glance. This drills

down into each part and shows you what each chapter is all about. Finally, skim through the full-blown

Table of Contents, which drills further down into each chapter, showing you the headings for the

sections and subsections of that chapter.

If you want to get the big picture of what biostatistics encompasses and the areas of biostatistics

covered in this book, then read Chapter 1. This is a top-level overview of the book’s topics. Here are

a few other special parts of this book you may want to jump into first, depending on your interest:

If you’re uncomfortable with mathematical notation, then Chapter 2 is the place to start.

If you want a quick refresher on basic statistics like what you would learn in a typical introductory

course, then read Chapter 3.

You can get an introduction to human research and clinical trials in Chapters 5, 7, and 20.

If you want to learn about collecting, summarizing, and graphing data, jump to Part 3.

If you need to know about working with survival data, you can go right to Part 6.

If you’re puzzled about a particular statistical distribution function, then look at Chapter 24.

And if you need to calculate some quick sample-size estimates, turn to Chapter 25.