Practicing physicians and psychiatrists, even those with academic pretensions, are often overwhelmed by study designs and statistical analysis. Their choice of nonstatistical careers and disciplinary backgrounds is often a reflection of their limited aptitude for mathematics. Consequently, they look for clear and concise step-by-step statistical procedures, focused and intuitive explanations generously illustrated with easy to understand real-life examples. In addition, rather than master the whole subject, they prefer nonlinear approaches which allow them to zoom into specific issues and understand their use in particular situations. Easy to understand language (i.e., plain English), often helps them overcome their limited mathematical ability and restricted knowledge of algebraic notation. Even those who routinely analyze their data focus on a conceptual approach, employ computers, prefer statistical programs with drop-down menus, recognize the indications for specific tests and understand their interpretation while acknowledging the process as a black box approach. They frequently collaborate with statisticians for large or complex data and analyses.
The author has recognized statistical needs of physicians and has attempted to present a simplified approach to statistics. The book provides an overview of psychiatric research, classifies statistical methods, describes types of data and variables, introduces quantitative and qualitative variables, elaborates study designs, discusses descriptive statistics, illuminates the basis of statistical inference, explains statistical tests of significance, and introduces correlational, multivariate, and meta-analysis. Each chapter focuses on a single aspect, introduces the issues, describes statistical theory, and provides examples. It also provides details of how to use the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics) computer program for such analysis.
The book is an attempt to fill the long felt need for a simple statistical text, useful for physicians and psychiatrists. While it meets many of its goals, the book is not for the faint hearted and will require perseverance necessary to understand the field. It will certainly help those who have a basic familiarity with statistical methods and analysis, but it does not meet the required standards of “statistics for dummies.” The book steps in the right direction for those who want to independently analyze and interpret data.