Descriptive Statistics

Book Details

Author	Mohammed A. Shayib
Publisher	Bookboon
Year	2018
Language	English
Pages	293
Size	7.28 MB
Extension	PDF

Summary

"Descriptive Statistics: The Basics for Biostatistics: Volume I" by Mohammed A. Shayib, published by Bookboon in 2018, serves as an essential introductory text for students and professionals in the fields of medicine, biology, and health sciences who need a solid foundation in statistical methods. This 293-page volume focuses on descriptive statistics, which is the branch of statistics concerned with summarizing and describing the features of a dataset without making inferences about a larger population. The book is particularly tailored for biostatistics, incorporating examples and applications relevant to biological and medical data, making it highly practical for its intended audience. Shayib begins with an overview of the importance of statistics in biostatistics, explaining how descriptive methods help in organizing raw data into meaningful information that can inform medical research, clinical trials, and public health decisions. He covers the basics of data types—qualitative versus quantitative, discrete versus continuous—and discusses various methods of data collection, emphasizing the need for accuracy and ethical considerations in handling sensitive health-related information. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to graphical representations of data, including histograms, bar charts, pie charts, box plots, and stem-and-leaf plots. These visual tools are illustrated with real-world examples from biostatistics, such as displaying the distribution of patient ages in a clinical study or the frequency of certain symptoms in a population. Shayib stresses the importance of choosing the appropriate graph to avoid misleading interpretations, a common pitfall in data presentation. The core chapters delve into measures of central tendency: mean, median, and mode. The author explains each with formulas and step-by-step calculations, using datasets from biological contexts like blood pressure readings or enzyme levels. He highlights scenarios where the median might be preferable over the mean, such as in skewed distributions common in medical data, like income levels affecting health access. Measures of dispersion follow, covering range, variance, standard deviation, and interquartile range. Shayib provides detailed examples, such as calculating the variability in tumor sizes in a cancer study, to show how these measures quantify the spread of data and assess reliability. The book also introduces concepts like skewness and kurtosis to describe the shape of data distributions, with applications to normal distributions often assumed in biological processes. Advanced topics in this volume include bivariate data analysis, such as scatter plots and correlation coefficients, to explore relationships between variables, like height and weight in nutritional studies. Shayib includes discussions on percentiles, z-scores, and standardization, useful for comparing individual data points to norms in medical diagnostics. Throughout, the text is supported by exercises, problems, and solutions to reinforce learning. As a free eBook from Bookboon, it's accessible and designed for self-study, with a PDF size of 7.28 MB for easy download. This volume sets the stage for Volume II on inferential statistics, providing a comprehensive yet beginner-friendly entry into biostatistics. Readers will gain the skills to effectively summarize and visualize data, crucial for evidence-based decision-making in health sciences. Whether for undergraduate students, medical professionals, or researchers, this book demystifies descriptive statistics, making it an invaluable resource in the era of big data in healthcare.

Key Features

• Comprehensive introduction to descriptive statistics with a focus on biostatistics applications.
• Detailed explanations of data types, collection methods, and ethical considerations.
• In-depth coverage of graphical data representation techniques with medical examples.
• Step-by-step calculations for measures of central tendency and dispersion.
• Exploration of data distribution shapes, including skewness and kurtosis.
• Analysis of bivariate data, correlation, and scatter plots.
• Practical exercises and solved problems for hands-on learning.
• Free eBook format from Bookboon, accessible for students and professionals.
• Real-world biostatistical examples from health and biological sciences.
• Preparation for advanced topics in inferential statistics in Volume II.

About Author

Mohammed A. Shayib is a distinguished statistician and academic with a rich background in mathematics and applied statistics. Born in Alma, Safad, in northern Palestine, Shayib fled his hometown during turbulent times, which shaped his resilient pursuit of education. He earned his advanced degrees in statistics and has dedicated his career to teaching and research in the field. Shayib served for ten years in the departments of Mathematics, and Statistics and Operations Research at Kuwait University, where he contributed to curriculum development and mentored numerous students. Later, he joined Prairie View A&M University in Texas, USA, where he continued his work as a professor, focusing on applied statistics and biostatistics. As an author, Shayib has published several books, including "Applied Statistics" and the two-volume series "The Basics for Biostatistics," aimed at making statistical concepts accessible to non-mathematicians, particularly in medical and biological fields. His works are known for their clear, elementary presentations with minimal mathematical prerequisites, drawing from his extensive teaching experience. Shayib has co-authored research papers on topics like reliability moments and statistical modeling, published in international journals. His contributions extend to editorial roles and collaborations, such as with Aliakbar Montazer Haghighi. Through his books and teachings, Shayib has influenced generations of students and professionals, emphasizing practical applications of statistics in real-world scenarios, especially in biostatistics for health sciences. His personal journey from displacement to academic prominence underscores his commitment to education as a tool for empowerment.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What can I learn by reading this book ?

A: By reading this book, you can learn the fundamental concepts of descriptive statistics applied to biostatistics, including data types, graphical representations, measures of central tendency and dispersion, distribution shapes, and bivariate analysis, all with practical examples from medical and biological fields.

Q: This book is suitable for beginners?

A: Yes, this book is suitable for beginners, as it presents concepts in an elementary manner with minimal mathematical background required, making it ideal for medical students and health professionals new to statistics.

Q: This book is recommended for professionals?

A: Yes, this book is recommended for professionals in health sciences who need a refresher on descriptive statistics or seek to apply these methods to biological and medical data analysis in their work.