The books "Discovering Statistics Using R" and "Discovering Statistics Using SPSS" are social-science applied statistics textbooks that are generally positively reviewed on Amazon. I am wondering if anyone has opinions on whether they would be appropriate for an applied graduate biostatistics course. It looks like they are oriented towards undergrads but some reviews imply that they are not entry-level texts. (They also appear to rely on rather low-brow humor - which could be a plus or a minus).
Any comments would be appreciated. My context, in case you are curious: I am teaching an applied, project-based biostats/R course. Students will be from an array of biological and environmental sciences disciplines, including ecology, physiology, cell bio, and genomics. Most students will not have taken a stats course since they were undergrads, and few will have experience with R. The book seems to have a very attractive combination of applied stats + basic R. Most R books in my experience are rather terse when it comes to the stats -- as well as often with regards to the R. I think I'd rather have a non-biology focused book that integrates stats and R than to use a more standard biostats and either a) use a separate R book, or b)come up with all of the R stuff myself. A few labs in the department use SPSS and so referring to the SPSS version of the book could be useful at times. I would supplement the book heavily with readings from journals and probably use Motulsky's "Intutive Biostatistics" as a supplmental text. Nathan L. Brouwer, PhD Research Associate | National Aviary, Dept. of Conservation & Field Research Adjunct Assistant Professor | Department of Biology, California University of Pennsylvania <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] | <http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nathan_Brouwer> www.researchgate.net/profile/Nathan_Brouwer http://rpubs.com/brouwern
