p. armitage and t. colton (eds): encyclopedia of biostatistics

1
Genes, Brain and Behavior (2007) 6: 304 # 2007 The Author Journal compilation # 2007 Blackwell Munksgaard Book review Encyclopedia of Biostatistics P. Armitage and T. Colton (eds) John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2nd edn., 2005. $3775, eight volumes, lxxxiv þ 6022 pp. ISBN 0-470-84907-X Some of the most frequent mistakes made in submitted manuscripts (and, unfortunately, also in many published ar- ticles) concern matters of statistics and statistical inference. A classical example is the situation where researchers test a treatment in two groups of animals (say, males and females), obtain a significant effect of treatment in only one group and subsequently conclude that their groups react differently to the treatment. (Of course, such a conclusion would only be justified if the interaction term of a two-way analysis of variance ANOVA – would be significant.) Although such fundamental issues should be addressed during the training of researchers, this is often not the case: whereas psychologists generally get a good foundation in statistics during their education, biologists often do not, and they frequently seem to regard statistics as just a necessary nuisance to be used solely to pacify finicky referees. To complicate matters, the statistical knowledge of referees (and editors) is often not much better than that of authors. In short, therefore, an encyclopedia like the present one should be part of the library of any institution engaged in biological or biomedical research. The present work is of an astonishing completeness. Subjects covered vary from pure statistical theory (but always with practice in mind), through generally used biomedical methods and experimental designs, to biographical items on prominent statisticians (geneticists will recognize several of them, from Francis Galton to Sir Ronald Fisher). True, some methods are not presented. The Hayman–Jinks ANOVA for diallel tables is an example (the words ‘diallel cross’ are not even listed in the index), but much as I personally like this particular method, it has to be admitted that it is only rarely used any more nowadays. The encyclopedia is very general and covers all of the biosciences, including, for instance, agriculture. Nevertheless, geneticists will find a wealth of information on subjects such as linkage and segregation analysis, path analysis, twin analysis, etc. To avoid giving the impression that this encyclopedia would be of use only for researchers working with humans, I have to mention that even a topic such as ‘animal screening methods’ can be found in the detailed subject index. All general statistical techniques that are commonly, or even less commonly, used in behavioral neurogenetics are covered. This varies from detailed treatments of multivariate methods such as the much-abused discriminant and factor analyses to lemmas discussing reliable workhorses such as the t-test, ANOVA and nonparametric statistics like the Mann–Whitney U-test. Although some lemmas are, by necessity, rather technical, others are also understandable for researchers less familiar with statistical theory. The lemma on P values and statistical signif- icance merits to be read by anyone involved in analyzing research data, be it as an author, journal referee or grant reviewer. The price is steep (but at $0.50/page not excessive), so not many individual researchers will be able to afford this carefully produced encyclopedia. However, I hope and trust that this Encyclopedia will find its way into many institutional libraries and would like to encourage any student or researcher to make the trip to their libraries to consult it carefully and often. Wim E. Crusio Universite ´ de Bordeaux I Centre de Neurosciences Inte ´ gratives et Cognitives CNRS UMR 5228 Bat B2 – Avenue des Faculte ´s 33405 Talence France E-mail: [email protected] 304 doi: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2006.00300.x

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Page 1: P. Armitage and T. Colton (eds): Encyclopedia of Biostatistics

Genes, Brain and Behavior (2007) 6: 304 # 2007 The AuthorJournal compilation # 2007 Blackwell Munksgaard

Book review

Encyclopedia of Biostatistics

P. Armitage and T. Colton (eds)

John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2nd edn., 2005. $3775, eightvolumes, lxxxiv þ 6022 pp. ISBN 0-470-84907-X

Some of the most frequent mistakes made in submitted

manuscripts (and, unfortunately, also in many published ar-ticles) concern matters of statistics and statistical inference. A

classical example is the situation where researchers testa treatment in two groups of animals (say, males and females),

obtain a significant effect of treatment in only one group andsubsequently conclude that their groups react differently to the

treatment. (Of course, such a conclusion would only bejustified if the interaction termof a two-way analysis of variance

– ANOVA – would be significant.) Although such fundamental

issues should be addressed during the training of researchers,this is often not the case: whereas psychologists generally get

a good foundation in statistics during their education, biologistsoften do not, and they frequently seem to regard statistics as

just a necessary nuisance to be used solely to pacify finickyreferees. To complicate matters, the statistical knowledge of

referees (and editors) is often not much better than that ofauthors. In short, therefore, an encyclopedia like the present

one should be part of the library of any institution engaged inbiological or biomedical research.

The present work is of an astonishing completeness.Subjects covered vary from pure statistical theory (but always

with practice in mind), through generally used biomedicalmethods and experimental designs, to biographical items on

prominent statisticians (geneticists will recognize several ofthem, from Francis Galton to Sir Ronald Fisher). True, some

methods are not presented. The Hayman–Jinks ANOVA fordiallel tables is an example (the words ‘diallel cross’ are not

even listed in the index), but much as I personally like thisparticular method, it has to be admitted that it is only rarely

used any more nowadays.

The encyclopedia is very general and covers all of thebiosciences, including, for instance, agriculture. Nevertheless,

geneticists will find a wealth of information on subjects such aslinkage and segregation analysis, path analysis, twin analysis,

etc. To avoid giving the impression that this encyclopediawouldbe of use only for researchers working with humans, I have to

mention that even a topic such as ‘animal screening methods’can be found in the detailed subject index. All general statistical

techniques that are commonly, or even less commonly, used inbehavioral neurogenetics are covered. This varies from detailed

treatments of multivariate methods such as the much-abuseddiscriminant and factor analyses to lemmas discussing reliable

workhorses such as the t-test, ANOVA and nonparametricstatistics like the Mann–Whitney U-test.

Although some lemmas are, by necessity, rather technical,others are also understandable for researchers less familiar with

statistical theory. The lemma on P values and statistical signif-icancemerits to be read by anyone involved in analyzing research

data, be it as an author, journal referee or grant reviewer.The price is steep (but at $0.50/page not excessive), so

not many individual researchers will be able to afford thiscarefully produced encyclopedia. However, I hope and trust

that this Encyclopedia will find its way into many institutionallibraries and would like to encourage any student or

researcher to make the trip to their libraries to consult itcarefully and often.

Wim E. Crusio

Universite de Bordeaux ICentre de Neurosciences Integratives et Cognitives

CNRS UMR 5228

Bat B2 – Avenue des Facultes33405 Talence

FranceE-mail: [email protected]

304 doi: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2006.00300.x