Reviews (6)

Not a very appealing text
Chapters are disjoint at times, with no reference to similar concepts between them.Almost as if they were all written separately without any editing to tie them all together.
Health Behavior and Health Education
This book is a must have for anyone in the health education field. It presents all major health behavior theories in a clear and understandable manner, applies theories to case studies at the end of each chapter, and offers a table summary of each theory's core constructs. The book is well written and with this third edition comes more updated research information.

Not for a novice
Unarguably, Glanz et al know their theories.That, along with how comprehensive this book is, is as much of a positive review as I can give.My criticism of this book is not the expertise of Glanz et al. (They are quite obviously experienced intellectuals and are to be commended for their efforts.)My concern is:
Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied Psychology    2. Education & Training    3. Health Behavior    4. Health Education    5. Health promotion    6. Medical    7. Medical / Nursing    8. Public Health    9. Medical / Public Health    10. Personal & public health   

Reviews (4)

the nuts and bolts to put the thing together
I am working on my dissertation.This book got me out of my thinking chair and to my writing desk.The philosophical approach to qualitative research is very contemporary and will take us into whole new areas of research to improve and 'polish' humanity.My only objection is the cost.Does a book like this really have to cost over $60?Too much.

This is just awesome. This opens up a whole universe for the qualitative researcher.
When one thinks of qualitaitve research one tends to think immediately of focus groups and face to face interviews - but increasingly with research the game is shifting toward online surveys that generate wonderful amounts of open-ended content, and research projects may also involve ethnography and content analysis to gain rich insights. In other words the focus of the professional must shift toward that quesiton: "what on earth do we do with all this 'soft' data?" Those verbatims, those observation notes... there's a huge amount of data waiting for interpretation. Can you systematically analyse it?
Great Resource
As an advisor of doctoral students, I keep several copies of this book on the shelf so I always have one on hand to loan to students. I find it a very useful resource for students who are planning qualitative research. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education    2. Research    3. Social Science    4. Social sciences    5. Sociology    6. Statistics    7. Social Science / Research    8. Social research & statistics   

Reviews (8)

Essential to understanding biostatistics
I found this book clear, concise, and extremely helpful. I am not a numbers and theory person, but using this book in conjunction with strong classroom lectures helped me to understand the principles and methods tremendously. I see there are some negative reviews posted, but statistical computing can be a difficult process to learn, and I can understand how students might become frustrated if they lack the proper lectures to support this excellent teaching tool. I hope a few rotten classroom experiences will not discourage other customers from buying this book.

Better than most
I like it.I studied statistics and probability in the past, and find this book to be among the easiest to understand.Using this book requires having a basic understanding of the language and symbols of mathematics, as well as, the willingness to learn new mathematical concepts.Generally speaking, these concepts are not easy to learn.Rather than avoid the language of mathematics, it teaches statistics at a basic level.
the "never again" book for biostatistics
Let me just start by saying I really like math, but this book did not help me to learn biostatistics at all.It doesn't explain the issues and equations very well and it has absolutly no answers in the back to check with yours, that's a whole other book...and that only has answers to the odds.Perhaps this would be a decent book for anyone who already has a handle on the subject and wants to learn more, but if this is your first exposure to biostatistics, like me, try another source to learn from, this book makes a difficult subject near impossible. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied    2. Biometry    3. Biostatistics    4. Mathematics    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Biology, Life Sciences    9. Epidemiology & medical statistics    10. Medical / Biostatistics    11. Probability & statistics    12. Social research & statistics   

Reviews (1)

Epi for Public Health Practice
The book is very well written. Clean examples are given. The authors do a great job of avoiding complex and confusing examples. The book made epidemiology more interesting and much easier to understand than it could have been. Charts, graphs, and tables help clear up differences between similar concepts and provide examples of concepts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Epidemiology    2. General    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Public Health    6. Public health personnel    7. Encyclopaedias & Reference Works   

Reviews (17)

YES! I could speak and ask questions at journal club without looking like a fool.
Helped me from looking a fool during residency. Thank you Harvey!

Excellent Statistics Book
Intuitive Biostatistics takes a confidence interval approach that should be required reading for all persons interested in statistics. His discussion of basic statistical concepts in the context of interpreting lab test results is clear and informative and introduces the reader to Bayesian concepts that are presented very simply.

The Meaning of Statistics
This book does an EXCELLENT job of translating the formulas and rules presented in most statistics texts into relevant, applicable constructs.It focuses on understanding WHY you use one test rather than another, recognizing the difference in focus between statistical computations and clinical applications, and generally pulls you aside and says, "This is what he really meant to say...."A critical adjunct to assigned texts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Life Sciences - Biology - General    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Medicine    6. Public Health    7. Research    8. Statistical methods    9. Biology, Life Sciences    10. Epidemiology & medical statistics    11. Life Sciences    12. Medical / Biostatistics    13. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (5)

Nice book but you need to know the subject!
This is a nice book if you know the subject from another book ! - otherwise the explanation is limited.

Good If you know your Statistics
This is a good book if you know statistical analysis. Do you know what to use, when and where? If you do, this book is good because if you are going to use SAS for analysis you have got to know your statistics. What good would FORTRAN be if you didn't know Algebra? You need both.

Very readable and practical
This book is very well written. Each topic is presented with an interesting example, including discussion. None of the topics are presented in great depth, so for example, this is not the book to use for learning factor analysis, or cluster analysis, etc. The real strength of the book is that it shows how to do the analysis using SAS in a clear and concise way. I would recommend this book highly for anyone who would like to get started using SAS. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Business Software - General    3. Data processing    4. Mathematical & Statistical Software    5. Mathematical Statistics    6. Mathematics    7. Microcomputer Statistical Software    8. Probability & Statistics - General    9. SAS (Computer file)    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Mathematics / Statistics    12. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (11)

More useful than other beginner's texts but...
As someone who recently retired from analyzing ecological data after a decade of it, I found this book to be pretty good one-stop shopping.I wouldn't say it's an introduction to stats so much as it is a systematic compilation of all the "traditional" statistical topics (t-tests, regressions, etc).As such, it contained some useful formulas that do not occur in regular "Stats 101" texts, such as sample size estimators for various analyses.
The medium?s viewpoint
I had been teacher of Statistic by several years in some universities of Mexico and the Zar book had been a common company in my classroom all the years. Certainly it is not to begginers, but it is very usefull to proffesors. It usually have answer to assess uncommon series data, as non-normal data, or missing data. The book work almost all the time with data series that have normal distributions, and use non-parametric statistical tools to work with other series distributions. There are other books that deal with it best, considering, by example, tests to data with Poisson or binomial distributions (the common in the biological sciences). However, to undergraduate students, and some graduate students, the Zar "normal" approach work fine. Graduate research or doctoral research is done better not with other book in hand but with other statistical approach in mind, and unfortunately there is not only book to do it. Well, in that case, the Zar book help to understand some of the main points to make high statistical analysis.

The beginner's viewpoint
Frankly, I am aghast that the publisher calls this book accessible and appropriate for beginners.I purchased it as the required text for an introductory biometry class, and it has contributed very little to my understanding of biostatistical analysis.After chapter 7 (at best), it is simply incomprehensible.The mathematical notation requires far more than a high school algebra background, and the wording is extremely terse.Yes, it does offer real-world examples, and yes, it does offer a large range of statistical tables, and I am sure that it is good reference for people who are already working as statisticians and who have advanced degrees in statistics.However, it is misleading to call Zar a good introductory text - it is completely inappropriate for beginners.It is too concise in a situation where more words would be useful.Sokal and Rohlf 2nd ed. is far better; Fowler et al. also proved helpful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biometry    2. Biostatistics    3. Life Sciences - Biology - General    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Biology, Life Sciences    8. Science / Biology   

Reviews (5)

Detailed introduction
Comprehensive book. Requires good understanding of basic statistics and mathematics for some chapters. However without this, it is still a great book for a solid foundation on Clinical Trial design and conduct.

CONCISE MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
The fact that this book was designed for researchers, who are involved in experimental (clinical) trials, makes the basic knowledge of statistics essential. Good intro textbook
I used this book for a class that I took last semester on clinical trial. Read more

Subjects:  1. Clinical Examination    2. Clinical Trials    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Medical Research    6. Research    7. Research Design    8. Medical / Biostatistics    9. Pharmacology    10. Statistical Models   

Reviews (3)

Good content Poor Design
The book is very helpful.The layout does not make for easy reading. The book would be much better with good visuals and less chunky paragraph style writing - the virtues of bullet points especially during pre-exam reading.

great book
a little slow in shipping but GREAT book. very clear explanation in good logic.

At last, a good intro to epi book for students!
This book is an excellent introduction to epidemiology. The authors present epidemiologic concepts in an easy-to-understand manner with interesting supportive examples from the fields of reproductive health and HIV epidemiology. In addition to the standard chapters on study design, bias, and confounding, the book also includes very good chapters on measurement error, causation, and screening, as well as tried-and-proven guidelines for a critical review of epidemiologic studies. This text should be very helpful to beginning masters and doctoral students in epidemiology and public health. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Epidemiologic Methods    2. Epidemiology    3. General    4. Medical    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Public Health    7. Social medicine    8. Medicine: General Issues   

Reviews (9)

My Bible
I used this book in grad school as my textbook and constantly use it now in my job as a six sigma black belt.
Excellent self-tutorial
The book is based upon biostatistics courses taught by the authors.It is designed to be used as a self-tutorial if so desired.The explainations and examples are excellent.

additional comments on second edition
I have previously reviewed this book.My review pertains to the second edition as that is the only edition I have.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biometry    2. Biostatistics    3. Life Sciences - Biology - General    4. Mathematics    5. Probability & Statistics - General    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Biology, Life Sciences    9. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (8)

Awesome Biostats Primer!
I'm currently an undergraduate student at Univ. South Florida majoring in social work (BSW). I am also doing a math minor because I plan on going on to graduate school in a dual program, social work (MSW) and public health-biostatistics (MSPH).
Fundamentals of Biostatistics by Rosner
This is an easy-to-read volume on the implementation of statistics for medicinal applications. The author describes the following:
For a textbook, it is darn good!
People usually dislike textbooks. Textbooks tend to be voluminous and expansive on the simplest of topics.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biometry    2. Biostatistics    3. Life Sciences - Biology - General    4. Medical statistics    5. Probability & Statistics - General    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Epidemiology & medical statistics    9. Medical / Biostatistics   

Reviews (4)

Well-Written Text for Beginners
I'm taking my first biostatistics class with W. Daniel's Biostatistics text.It's a good book, but I think it's for more advanced statistics students.Munro's text is more suitable for beginners who have never taken any statistics class.It explains the basic but important statistical concepts in plain English without using much mathematics.Very well written and easy to understand.The exercises at the end of each chapter are well picked. They are short, yet helpful for reviewing the important concepts that have just been covered.

Statistical Methods for Health Care Research
A very well-written and helpful statistics book. It was required reading for a course in Quantitative Nursing Research last semester. Overall, the concepts such as t-tests, correlation and regression were explained in relatively simple terms. Examples with answers were found at the end of each chapter and the book came with a data disk. This was the most user-friendly statistics book that I have used so far!

Great book
I had a chance to review this book. I think the authors can make us much better understand, particularly one who is about to learn the concept of statistics. You can apply this book with the SPSS program in order to interpret the results. Anyway, I still like the calculation parts which areremoved in this edition (3rd) compared with the last one. I think they canhelp someone, who is very interested in statistics, to understand betterbefore go ahead to use the computer. It's a great book for the beginner. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Health Care Delivery    3. Health Services Research    4. Medical    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Medical care    7. Nursing    8. Parasitology    9. Probability & Statistics - General    10. Research    11. Statistical methods    12. methods    13. Medical / Nursing / Research & Theory    14. Medicine   

Reviews (1)

This *could* have been great...
At first browse, this book looks a bit like one of Julius Bendat's excellent texts on time series analysis: dense in formulas, but rewarding the wade.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Healing    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Pharmacy    6. Research    7. Social Science    8. Statistics    9. Epidemiology & medical statistics    10. Mathematics / Statistics    11. Probability & statistics   

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Mathematics    3. Probability & Statistics - General    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Mathematics / Statistics    6. Probability & statistics    7. Time Series Analysis   

Reviews (1)

strom is da man
i just wanted to say that strommers is da man.yeah, really.so much.this book rocks like notin else. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Epidemiology    2. Medical    3. Medical / Nursing    4. Pharmacoepidemiology    5. Pharmacology    6. methods    7. Medical / Pharmacology    8. Medicine: General Issues    9. Other Branches of Medicine   

Reviews (9)

Good Primer
I bought this book in 1990 (an older version) and have never had a statistics course.I have found it to be an extremely helpful starting point for the application of statistical tests to biomedical problems.From this I have gone on and used more sophisticated tools for computation and have only rarely needed to seek out the advice of experts.
Pretty Good
I actually thought this book was pretty good.I haven't used the cd.The definitions are pretty clear.I use this in conjunction with Gordis' Epidemiology for quick review.I find Rothman and Greenland is not good for that.When I am thinking about research design and elements of statistical analysis this book is easy to turn to to just go over why one test may be better than another--I am a medical student with an MPH in epi who has worked on several research projects, and I think this book is pretty helpful as a simple aid in the transition from research assistant to co-investigator.

not buythis good-for-nothingbook(MUCH LESS THAN1 STAR)
If Ihadanenemy,Iwouldn'twish evenfor ananemyto buythisawfuland unusefulbook.Dosave your money. There is no any benefit in thisbook,just simple wasteoftime and money. Theauthorshave provided CD with NCSS and PASS, but forgot to describe how the reader can use this programand fulfil allcalculation. Theygive only the instruction to set up andalot of taskswithout any explanationof any actionsin these program.So, I curse any minutes of myreading, and cannot sayany good word about the book, its authors. NEVER BUY THISBOOK!!!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Life Sciences - Biology - General    3. Medical    4. Medical / Nursing    5. Probability & Statistics - General    6. Science    7. Epidemiology & medical statistics    8. Medical / Biostatistics   

Reviews (5)

A Good Read, but Read it Carefully!
The authors provide a really nice, non-technical survey of the landscape for Cox Proportional Hazards models. A nice aspect of their treatment is the care they take to reference all highly technical texts and journal articles. For example, if you'd like to find out more about goodness-of-fit tests for survival models, the authors provide ample references to the Counting Process Theory of Martingale Residuals.
nice introduction
This book provides a good, clear, concise explanation of Cox's proportional hazards models. For someone seeking a non-mathematical description this is a great guide. The original datasets from the text examples can even be downloaded and you can go through the same process yourself. Because of some mistakes in the text, I would recomend looking at other sources as well.

Great conceptual Introduction to Cox regression analysis
I enjoyed the authors' book on logistic regression analysis in 1989, and this book is just as good, or better, with many extremely practical suggestions on building regression models for survival data.Happily, theauthors summarize, compare, and contrast several major texts on survivalanalysis which have appeared in the past 10 years.For example, theydiscuss different names used by different authors for score residuals. They present a helpful appendix on the counting process approach tosurvival analysis, which will make more advanced texts accessible tostudents;thus, anyone who wants to use survival analysis, at any level,should consult this book, even if he has already studied books by Miller,Lee, Collett, Fleming-Harington,Andersen, et al, etc.An unfortunatedrawback to this book is that the first printing contains many carelesserrors, some of which may affect student learning:for example, thedefinition of a survival function is misstated.I recommend that youinsist on the second or third printing when buying this book, and you willbe quite satisfied. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biostatistics    2. Computer programs    3. Data processing    4. Medical    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Medical Research    7. Medical sciences    8. Medicine    9. Probability & Statistics - General    10. Regression Analysis    11. Research    12. Science/Mathematics    13. Statistical methods    14. Mathematics / Statistics    15. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    16. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (2)

great overview of the topic
The book is very well written. It gives a great overview of the fundamental problems of causal inference in observastional studies. It has a lot of examples, homeworks and extensive references in every chapter.

up-to-date account of methods for observational studies
Many years ago the famous statistician Ronald Aylmer Fisher criticized analyses that linked lung cancer to smoking. He argued that these studies had hidden biases because they were not controlled experiments. He proposed that smokers could be different from non-smokers because of a genetic propensity to desire cigarettes and that this genetic trait could be correlated with a higher incidence of lung cancer. Thus it would be possible to see a higher frequency of lung cancer among smokers because of this genetic trait rather than because the smoking itself causes the cancer. As far-fetched as this argument may seem to us today, it is based on sound statistical principles and points out some of the potential problems that occur with observational studies.

Subjects:  1. Analysis of variance    2. Biostatistics    3. Experimental design    4. Mathematical Statistics    5. Mathematics    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Statistics    9. Analysis    10. Bias    11. Mathematics / Statistics    12. Observational Studies    13. Sensitivity    14. Social research & statistics    15. Treatment Effects   

Reviews (16)

A good reference on shelf
It is a good refence-type textbook for epidemiology.I first used it in my introductory course of epidemiology at Harvard University's program of Master of Public Health.Even Prof. Rothman came to classroom in person for several lectures.It was a good book but accompanying books were needed for better understanding of the topic.Now I am in my PhD program at National Taiwan University, Taiwan and using the book for the 2nd time.There are still new things to discover from the book.For a reader who uses the textbook twice in graduate studies, I recommend it as a guide or outline for further exploration into the field.Advanced studies require lots of reading, aren't they?It should be on your shelf, for future reference, but not the only one.

The standard textbook in the field
With all the pros and cons of an advanced-level book written by many authors, this work is widely considered the standard text in the field. As a professor of mine says, every epidemiologist should have it on her/his bookshelf.

unnecessary details on statistics subject
I agree with many reviewers here that the book is great, but poorly organized and put too much on statistical methods. I have read through it from cover to cover for my exams.Nevertheless, the first part discussion is very good, but you need to read other books before reading Rothman's book. Acutally, I really hate Greenland's writing, it is too obscure. I would not recommend this book to students. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Epidemiologic Methods    2. Epidemiology    3. Health/Fitness    4. Medical    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Public Health    7. Statistical methods    8. Epidemiology & medical statistics    9. Medical / Epidemiology   

Reviews (3)

Good, but far too prolix
I admire this book very much for its accessible treatment of AIC, but if were reduced in length by half, it would be twice as good.The authors cannot resist repeating themselves, usually several times, especially when giving advice of the "motherhood and apple pie" variety. Another annoying feature is that many references are given for philosophical points, yet sometimes when a useful result is given without proof, no reference is provided.For example, on page 12 an expression for maximized likelihood is given without a derivation or a reference.Inside this fat book there is a thin book crying to be let out.

One of the best introduction to AIC (Akaike's Information Criterion)!!!
AIC is one of the widely known methods in model selection and inference.
authoritative and thorough treatment
Burnham and Anderson have put together a scholarly account of the developments in model selection techniques from the information theoretic viewpoint. This is an important practical subject. As computer algorithms become more and more available for fitting models and data mining and exploratory analysis become more popular and used more by novices, problems with overfitting models will again raise their ugly heads. This has been an issue for statisticians for decades. But the problems and the art of model selection has not been commonly covered in elementary courses on statistics and regression. George Box puts proper emphasis on the iterative nature of model selection and the importance of applying the principle of parismony in many of his books. Classic texts on regression like Draper and Smith point out the pitfalls of goodness of ift measures like R-square and explain Mallows Cp and adjusted R-square. There are now also a few good books devoted to model selection including the book by McQuarrie and Tsai (that I recently reviewed for Amazon) and the Chapman and Hall monograph by A. J. Miller.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biology    2. Biostatistics    3. General    4. Life Sciences - Biology - General    5. Mathematical Models In Biology    6. Mathematical models    7. Mathematical statistics    8. Probability & Statistics - General    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Inference    12. Mathematical modelling    13. Mathematics / Statistics    14. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    15. Model Selection