REVIEW OF THE FIRST EDITION: "Practicing physicians and psychiatrists, even those with academic pretensions, are often overwhelmed by study designs and statistical analysis. The author [of this book] 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. It will certainly help those who have a basic familiarity with statistical methods and analysis . The book steps in the right direction for those who want to independently analyze and interpret data.

" In Indian Journal of Psychiatry, by K. S. Jacob, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.