Olive Jean Dunn & Virginia A. Clark 
Basic Statistics 
A Primer for the Biomedical Sciences

New Edition of a Classic Guide to Statistical Applications in
the Biomedical Sciences

In the last decade, there have been significant changes in the
way statistics is incorporated into biostatistical, medical, and
public health research. Addressing the need for a modernized
treatment of these statistical applications, Basic Statistics,
Fourth Edition presents relevant, up-to-date coverage of research
methodology using careful explanations of basic statistics and how
they are used to address practical problems that arise in the
medical and public health settings. Through concise and
easy-to-follow presentations, readers will learn to interpret and
examine data by applying common statistical tools, such as
sampling, random assignment, and survival analysis.

Continuing the tradition of its predecessor, this new edition
outlines a thorough discussion of different kinds of studies and
guides readers through the important, related decision-making
processes such as determining what information is needed and
planning the collections process. The book equips readers with the
knowledge to carry out these practices by explaining the various
types of studies that are commonly conducted in the fields of
medical and public health, and how the level of evidence varies
depending on the area of research. Data screening and data entry
into statistical programs is explained and accompanied by
illustrations of statistical analyses and graphs. Additional
features of the Fourth Edition include:

* A new chapter on data collection that outlines the initial
steps in planning biomedical and public health studies

* A new chapter on nonparametric statistics that includes a
discussion and application of the Sign test, the Wilcoxon Signed
Rank test, and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test and its relationship to
the Mann-Whitney U test

* An updated introduction to survival analysis that includes the
Kaplan Meier method for graphing the survival function and a brief
introduction to tests for comparing survival functions

* Incorporation of modern statistical software, such as SAS,
Stata, SPSS, and Minitab into the presented discussion of data
analysis

* Updated references at the end of each chapter

Basic Statistics, Fourth Edition is an ideal book for
courses on biostatistics, medicine, and public health at the
upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also appropriate as
a reference for researchers and practitioners who would like to
refresh their fundamental understanding of statistical
techniques.

About the author

The late OLIVE JEAN DUNN, Ph D, was Professor Emerita of Biostatistics and Biomathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Dunn’s academic career spanned over forty years and included significant contributions to statistical research. She was a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Public Health Association, as well as coauthor of Applied Statistics: Analysis of Variance and Regression, Third Edition (Wiley).

VIRGINIA A. CLARK, Ph D, is Professor Emerita of Biostatistics and Biomathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. A Fellow of the American Statistical Association, Dr. Clark has coauthored over ninety journal articles and is coauthor of Applied Statistics: Analysis of Variance and Regression, Third Edition (Wiley).