A book that was very useful to me to become familiar with multivariate statistics is:
Hair J. H., Anderson R. E., Tatham R. L., Black W. C., 1998 - Multivariate data analysis. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 730 pp No mathematical formulas, but detailed analysis and discussion on several examples (e.g., it seems to me that there are 150 pages on multiple regression). The aim of the book is not to give you the mathematical bases for understanding multivariate statistics, but to allow you to understand what happens when you use the most common multivariate techniques, what are the assumptions etc. I would say that after reading it you may have a decent qualitative knowledge of several topics, and you can try going deeper into the subject playing with your data and studying on other books. I think that several manuals for statistical programs do something similar to Hair et al. book: basic knowledge of the technique and detailed description of examples. Recently I bought: Stevens J., 2002 - Applied multivariate statistics for social sciences. LEA, London, 699 pp. My first impression is that it is a great book, going a step forward compared to Hair et al.: more explanations on mathematics but still detailed discussion on examples. Mathematics is generally discussed working out one or more examples. Unfortunately, not everybody was so lucky to attend Prof. Rohlf or Prof. Marcus lectures! But I found of great help, after learning the basis of the most common multivariate techniques, trying to follow the example of papers by Rohlf, Marcus, Corti etc. and suggestions given in the help oh Rohlf's software. Also, Reyment's statistical primer (see links in Stony Brook website) is very useful to learn more about how/what multivarite methods to apply in biology. Complimentary to this kind of autodidact learning, but absolutely essential to me, was the help and advice provided by several people, most of whom are morphmet subscribers (by the way, 1000 thanks to you all). Good luck Andrea Andrea Cardini Division of Mammals, Department of Vertebrate Zoology NHB 390, MRC 108 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution P.O. BOX 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA tel. 202 3571476 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Hello, >I just came across this service by accident, but I am pleased that I >have. My name is Marc Laflamme, and I am presently undertaking a thesis >in multivariate morphometrics at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. >With this said, I more or less stumbled into morphometrics by accident, >since my original project was purely taxonomic, but when it became >obvious that my fossils were not going to be classified by simple >taxonomy, I became consumed by a morphometrics project. So for the last >few months, I have been struggling through the matrix and algebraic >jargon in the hopes of finally understanding what my computer was doing >when performing a PCA! To make a long story short, I am overwhelmed by >many of the supposed "introductory" textbooks and papers which assume I >have 10 years of statistical background under my belt. Please don't >misunderstand me, I truly love the power associated with multivariate >statistics, and the types of problems that can only be solved through >morphometrics (to the point where I hope to upgrade my present project >to a Phd dissertation), but I would really appreciate any comments on >good morphometric papers/books/websites that i could read in order to be >able to tackle the harder literature in due time. > >I appreciate any comments or suggestions. > >Thank you, Marc Laflamme > >_________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: >advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > >== >Replies will be sent to list. >For more information see http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/morph/morphmet.html. > > ----------------------------------------------------- Salve, il messaggio che hai ricevuto � stato inviato per mezzo del sistema di web mail interfree. Se anche tu vuoi una casella di posta free visita il sito http://club.interfree.it Ti aspettiamo! ----------------------------------------------------- == Replies will be sent to list. For more information see http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/morph/morphmet.html.
