This is an unusual statistics book in several respects. It attempts to explain the statistical methodology needed to answer several biological questions. This is in contrast to books that try to teach statistical techniques and hope that the reader can find the appropriate contexts in which to use them. Many an applied scientist has seen this hope turn into despair, not really due to a fault of his own. Statistics without context can be counter-intuitive and can mislead the reader with terms such as ‘significant’, ‘power’, ‘efficient’, ‘consistent’, ‘maximum likelihood’, ‘noninformative prior’, and so on
