Newsgroups: bit.listserv.stat-l
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 1992 11:37:00 -0400
From:         Meredith_Warshaw@FRANKSTON.COM
Subject:      medical stats texts
X-To:         stat-l@frankston.com

Awhile ago, I sent out the following message: "A surgeon (actually, my
step-brother) has requested that I recommend an easy, preferably short, intro
to medical stats.  Basically, he wants to understands t-tests, chi-squares,
and lifetables so he can read research literature.  Does anyone out there
have any recommendations?".  More replies have come in since last I
summarized, so here is the latest list.  Thanks again to all who took the
time to reply.   Meredith

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There is a little book by Duncan, Knapp, and Miller published by Wiley.  I
think it's in a second or third edition now.  No frills, just the recipes and
some discussion of the most common methods.
Russ Lenth                 rlenth@stat.uiowa.edu
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I recommend the following:
Norman, Geoffery; Striener, David. PDQ Statistics, 1986, BC Decker, Inc.
165pp.
Striener, David, Norman, Geoffery; Munroe Blum, Heather. PDQ Epidemiology.
 1989. BC Decker, Inc. Philadelphia. 119pp.
Written by members of the teaching faculty in Epediology/Health Sciences at
McMaster University, these books offer a concise introduction to the
subject.  Blended with examples and humour, they are also entertaining to
read.
Jay Bodkin
Statistics and Graphics Consultant
McGill University Computing Centre
Montreal, Quebec
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    In particular, for someone like a surgeon who is not likely to have to DO
statistics (for he/she can
    easily afford to pay a proper professional to do the actual work), I wish
to recommend

    William L. Hays, Statistics, Fourth Edition, Holt, Rinehart, & Winston,
1988.

    Hays writes in " ... an attempt to give the elements of modern statistics
in a relatively nonmathematical
    form, but in somewhat more detail than is customary in texts designed for
psychologists,
    and with considerably more emphasis on the theoretical rather than than
the applied aspects of the
    subject.  It is designed as a text for at least an intermediate level of
difficulty. ..."

    Hayes gives a fine exposition of distributions (normal, chi-square,t, F)
and their relationships, of
    expectations, etc., form the pointof view of the professional
statistician, not that of the hapless
    non-statistician struggling to find the right equation into which to pour
some numbers.  I find that any
    of my clients who have mastered Hays can much more readily comprehend the
theoretical
    niceties which permeate virtually any analysis of real, messy data;  it
makes my job much easier and
    prepares them much better to be able to defend their own papers at the
meetings.  I'm not
    terribly upset that my (say) surgeon friends are not doing the messy
details of the analyses that
    frequently require the advice of five or six PhD statisticians and thre
or four statistical
    computing pros to get through.  If they but understand the principles of
WHY we had to work so hard
    to produce one little p-value and one sentence for the results section,
then I'm better
    satisfied;  I think Hays helps them a great deal with that.

               Phil Gallagher              uphilg@unc
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From:   MDA1%NIORDS1.EM.CDC.GOV@VM1.MCGILL.CA
I believe that the British Medical Association publishes a book (or books) on
stats written specifically
for physicians.  Check out the British Medical Journal for ads. They
definitely used to be advertised there.  I believe the material is well
regarded.
*****************************************************************
The British Medical Assn. published a book called "Statistics at Square One"
in the late 1970s.  I don't know if it is still in print.  It was based on a
series of articles in the BMJ (15?), at a very basic level, but very good as
an introduction.
Bob Parker
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU