Research Methods for the Biosciences

Description

Research Methods for the Biosciences is the perfect resource for students wishing to develop the crucial skills needed for designing, carrying out, and reporting research, with examples throughout the text drawn from real undergraduate projects.

• Covers everything a student needs to know for carrying out an effective undergraduate research project
• Examples throughout drawn from real undergraduate projects help bring the subject to life
• Worked examples enable students to practice the calculations for all the key statistical tests
• Key terms provided in a glossary, along with marginal definitions, to help students get to grips with the terminology
• Extensive online resources such as statistical software walkthroughs, screencasts demonstrating the statistical walkthroughs and the use of R, full details of calculations, and practice exercises, provide additional support for students

New to this edition

• New chapter 'Which statistical test should I choose?' which includes a unique key designed to make the process more straightforward
• Online guidance reviewing US legislation relating to biological research
• Online video screencasts: short tutorials showing how to use statistics software to carry out various statistical tests and the use of R

About the Author(s)

Debbie Holmes, Senior Lecturer, Genetics, University of Worcester, Peter Moody, Senior Lecturer, Computing, University of Worcester, Diana Dine, Senior Lecturer, Environmental Science, University of Worcester, and Laurence Trueman, Senior Lecturer, Human Nutrition,, University of Worcester

Debbie Holmes, Diana Dine, Peter Moody, and Laurence Trueman are all senior lecturers in the Department of Applied Sciences, Geography and Archaeology at the University of Worcester. Between them, the authors have wide experience of teaching across a broad range of biological and environmental science-based subject areas, and developing web-based resources to support their undergraduate teaching.

Table of Contents

Planning your experiment
1:Where do I begin?
2:Planning your experiment
3:Questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews
4:Research, the law, and you
Handling your data
5:What to do with raw data
6:An introduction to hypothesis testing
7:Which statistical test should I choose?
8:Hypothesis testing: do my data fit an expected ratio?
9:Hypothesis testing: associations and relationships
10:Hypothesis testing: do my samples come from the same population? Parametric data
11:Hypothesis testing: do my samples come from the same population? Non-parametric data
Reporting your results
12:Reporting your research

Additional Resources

The Online Resource Centre to accompany Research Methods for the Biosciences features:

For students:
· New video screencasts showing how to carry out statistical tests using software
· Statistical software walkthroughs for SPSS, Excel, and Minitab
· Additional statistical tests not included in the main text
· Full details of calculations given in the boxes in the book
· Interactive and printable decision tree, to aid in designing your experiment
· Interactive and printable risk assessment form
· Integrative exercises to help students test their understanding of the topics in the book

For lecturers:
· A test bank of questions
· Figures from the book available to download