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The small book ‘‘SPSS for Starters’’ issued in 2010 presented 20 chapters of
cookbook like step by step data-analyses of clinical research, and was written to
help clinical investigators and medical students analyze their data without the help
of a statistician. The book served its purpose well enough, since 13,000 electronic
reprints were being ordered within 9 months of edition.
The first part of this title contained all statistical tests that are relevant for starters on SPSS, and included standard parametric and non-parametric tests for continuous and binary variables, regression methods, trend tests, and reliability and validity assessments of diagnostic tests. The current part 2 of this title reviews multistep methods, multivariate models, assessments of missing data, performance of diagnostic tests, meta-regression, Poisson regression, confounding and interaction, and survival analyses using log tests and segmented time-dependent Cox regression. Methods for assessing non linear models, data seasonality, distribution free methods, including Monte Carlo methods and artificial intelligence, and robust tests are also covered. Each method of testing is explained using a data example from clinical practice,including every step in SPSS, and a text with interpretations of the results and hints convenient for data reporting. In order to facilitate the use of this cookbook the data files of the examples is made available by the editor through extras.springer.com. Both part 1 and 2 of this title contain a minima amount of text and maximal technical details, but we believe that this property will not refrain students from mastering the SPSS software systematics, and that, instead, it will be a help to that aim. Yet, we recommend that it will used together with the textbook "Statistics Applied to Clinical Trials" (5th edition, Springer, Dordrecht 2012) and the e-books "Statistics on a Pocket Calculator Part 1 and 2 (Springer, Dordrecht, 2011 and 2012) from the same authors. |
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