I'm trying to learn statistics and R at the same time. I have an undergraduate science degree and one year of calculus (30 years ago), but never took a stats course. I hope to take some stats courses in the next year, but thought I would start to see how much I could teach myself. I work for an organization that analyses behavior change communication programs regarding HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. A typical question we're trying to answer is, "Watching which television programs in South Africa is related to an increased use of condoms?" All of our work is in the social sciences, I'd say. I'd like to help analyze our data using R. I found these titles that may teach me both stats and R: --Data Analysis and Graphics Using R by John Maindonald, John Braun --Introductory Statistics with R by Peter Dalgaard --Statistics: An Introduction using R by Michael J. Crawley --Using R for Introductory Statistics by John Verzani I recognize some of the authors by their postings here. Can anyone recommend any of these books over the others? I'm interested in a book that I can learn statistics by reading the chapters and working out the exercises and problems, therefore having access to many or all of the problem solutions is important. Do you have any other recommendations for me in learning both R and stats? Is it an impossible quest to learn enough stats by myself to be useful in analyzing real data sets? Thanks so much for your advice and suggestions. Kevin Zembower Center for Communication Programs Bloomberg School of Public Health Johns Hopkins University www.jhuccp.org
On 10/17/06, Zembower, Kevin <kzembowe at jhuccp.org> wrote:> I work for an organization that analyses behavior change communication > programs regarding HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. A typical question > we're trying to answer is, "Watching which television programs in South > Africa is related to an increased use of condoms?" All of our work is in > the social sciences, I'd say. I'd like to help analyze our data using R.I recently bought Peter Dalgaard's book and have found it to be quite helpful. jab -- John Bollinger, CFA, CMT www.BollingerBands.com If you advance far enough, you arrive at the beginning.
Kevin -- There are at least two that I recommend: Using R for Introductory Statistics, John Verzani, published by Chapman & Hall, 2005, and Introductory Statistics with R, by Peter Dalgaard (a frequent contributor to this list)published by Springer (in paperback) 2002. Of these, IMHO you will find more basic, fundamental, ground level stat in Verzani (which is also longer by about 40%), but more elegant, insightful use of R and more creative ideas in Dalgaard. These two together with the R Introduction that comes with R and maybe Jon Baron's notes on the use of R in psychology will get you off on the right foot. Good luck! Ben Fairbank -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Zembower, Kevin Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 9:08 AM To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R] Book recommendation for newbie to stats and R? I'm trying to learn statistics and R at the same time. I have an undergraduate science degree and one year of calculus (30 years ago), but never took a stats course. I hope to take some stats courses in the next year, but thought I would start to see how much I could teach myself. I work for an organization that analyses behavior change communication programs regarding HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. A typical question we're trying to answer is, "Watching which television programs in South Africa is related to an increased use of condoms?" All of our work is in the social sciences, I'd say. I'd like to help analyze our data using R. I found these titles that may teach me both stats and R: --Data Analysis and Graphics Using R by John Maindonald, John Braun --Introductory Statistics with R by Peter Dalgaard --Statistics: An Introduction using R by Michael J. Crawley --Using R for Introductory Statistics by John Verzani I recognize some of the authors by their postings here. Can anyone recommend any of these books over the others? I'm interested in a book that I can learn statistics by reading the chapters and working out the exercises and problems, therefore having access to many or all of the problem solutions is important. Do you have any other recommendations for me in learning both R and stats? Is it an impossible quest to learn enough stats by myself to be useful in analyzing real data sets? Thanks so much for your advice and suggestions. Kevin Zembower Center for Communication Programs Bloomberg School of Public Health Johns Hopkins University www.jhuccp.org ______________________________________________ R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
George W. Gilchrist
2006-Oct-18 11:02 UTC
[R] Book recommendation for newbie to stats and R?
Kevin, I teach biostats and have used many of these books and all are good. Mick Crawley's Statistics: An Introduction using R would be my first choice. It is clear, clever, and makes good use of the strengths of R. Crawley has a larger book entitled Statistical Computing that is also great. The focus of both is largely on linear models. George .................................................................. George W. Gilchrist Email: gwgilc at wm.edu Director of Graduate Studies Phone: (757) 221-7751 Department of Biology, Box 8795 Fax: (757) 221-6483 College of William & Mary Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795 http://gwgilc.people.wm.edu/
I haven't seen the first book (DAAG) mentioned so far, I have it and think it's very good. Anyway, I recommend you buy all R books (and perhaps take some extra time off to study them): your employer can well afford that, given the cash you're saving by not using proprietary software.> -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch > [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Zembower, Kevin > Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:08 AM > To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch > Subject: [R] Book recommendation for newbie to stats and R? > > I'm trying to learn statistics and R at the same time. I have an > undergraduate science degree and one year of calculus (30 years ago), > but never took a stats course. I hope to take some stats > courses in the > next year, but thought I would start to see how much I could teach > myself. > > I work for an organization that analyses behavior change communication > programs regarding HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. A > typical question > we're trying to answer is, "Watching which television > programs in South > Africa is related to an increased use of condoms?" All of our > work is in > the social sciences, I'd say. I'd like to help analyze our > data using R. > > I found these titles that may teach me both stats and R: > --Data Analysis and Graphics Using R by John Maindonald, John Braun > --Introductory Statistics with R by Peter Dalgaard > --Statistics: An Introduction using R by Michael J. Crawley > --Using R for Introductory Statistics by John Verzani > > I recognize some of the authors by their postings here. > > Can anyone recommend any of these books over the others? I'm > interested > in a book that I can learn statistics by reading the chapters and > working out the exercises and problems, therefore having > access to many > or all of the problem solutions is important. > > Do you have any other recommendations for me in learning both R and > stats? Is it an impossible quest to learn enough stats by myself to be > useful in analyzing real data sets? > > Thanks so much for your advice and suggestions. > > Kevin Zembower > Center for Communication Programs > Bloomberg School of Public Health > Johns Hopkins University > www.jhuccp.org > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >