Page 14 - Applied Statistics Using SPSS, STATISTICA, MATLAB and R

Preface to the First Edition

This book is intended as a reference book for students, professionals and research
workers who need to apply statistical analysis to a large variety of practical
problems using STATISTICA, SPSS and MATLAB. The book chapters provide a
comprehensive coverage of the main statistical analysis topics (data description,
statistical inference, classification and regression, factor analysis, survival data,
directional statistics) that one faces in practical problems, discussing their solutions
with the mentioned software packages.
The only prerequisite to use the book is an undergraduate knowledge level of
mathematics. While it is expected that most readers employing the book will have
already some knowledge of elementary statistics, no previous course in probability
or statistics is needed in order to study and use the book. The first two chapters
introduce the basic needed notions on probability and statistics. In addition, the
first two Appendices provide a short survey on Probability Theory and
Distributions for the reader needing further clarification on the theoretical
foundations of the statistical methods described.
The book is partly based on tutorial notes and materials used in data analysis
disciplines taught at the Faculty of Engineering, Porto University. One of these
disciplines is attended by students of a Master’s Degree course on information
management. The students in this course have a variety of educational backgrounds
and professional interests, which generated and brought about datasets and analysis
objectives which are quite challenging concerning the methods to be applied and
the interpretation of the results. The datasets used in the book examples and
exercises were collected from these courses as well as from research. They are
included in the book CD and cover a broad spectrum of areas: engineering,
medicine, biology, psychology, economy, geology, and astronomy.
Every chapter explains the relevant notions and methods concisely, and is
illustrated with practical examples using real data, presented with the distinct
intention of clarifying sensible practical issues. The solutions presented in the
examples are obtained with one of the software packages STATISTICA, SPSS or
MATLAB; therefore, the reader has the opportunity to closely follow what is being
done. The book is not intended as a substitute for the STATISTICA, SPSS and
MATLAB user manuals. It does, however, provide the necessary guidance for
applying the methods taught without having to delve into the manuals. This
includes, for each topic explained in the book, a clear indication of which
STATISTICA, SPSS or MATLAB tools to be applied. These indications appear in
specific “Commands” frames together with a complementary description on how to
use the tools, whenever necessary. In this way, a comparative perspective of the