2 – Introduction

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Getting started, we presented a brief introduction to statistical thinking, a systematic approach to how we ask questions about the world from data. We also offered a justification for why undergraduate biology students should (are required) learn (bio)statistics. In my day, most of us took statistics as part of our graduate training (for me, I took a business statistics class as an undergraduate student at the University of Washington, the textbook was the 6th edition of John E. Freund‘s Modern Elementary Statistics; in graduate school, the textbook was the 2nd edition of the influential Biometry by Robert R. Sokal and F. James Rohlf). The curriculum for science students has accelerated now — it is now assumed that as part of undergraduate career students gain experience working with data and developing quantitative reasoning skills. Biostatistics courses are designed to help you achieve this understanding. 

First up, let’s sell Why biostatistics? We’ll also provide a selective history of biostatistics and how statistical thinking informs the design of experiments. Chapter 2 concludes with how statistical reasoning fits in the scientific method — the systematic approach to acquiring knowledge through observation, experimentation, and reasoning.

Chapter 2 contents