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Practical statistics is a powerful tool often used by agricultural researchers and graduate students in investigating experimental design and analysis. One of the most widely-used statistical analysis software packages for this purpose is Stata. This book provides an introduction to Stata and its use in agricultural research, written in a format that is easy to read and user-friendly for beginners. It opens with a general discussion of statistical software, with additional chapters devoted to data entry and applications of Stata. More advanced topics include the use of Stata in regression analysis and in analyzing data that is typically not normally distributed.
List of contents
General Statistical Packages Comparisons. Program. Data Entry. Importing Data. Manipulating Data and Formats. Descriptive Statistics. Output Formats. Experimentation Ideas. Two Sample Tests. ANOVA. Output and Meaning. Variations of One Factor ANOVA Designs. Randomized Complete Block Design. Latin Square Designs. Balanced Incomplete Block Designs. Balanced Lattice Designs. Group Balanced Block Design. Subsampling. Two and More Factors ANOVA. Split-Plot Design. Split-Block Design. Evaluation over Years or Seasons. Three Factor Design. Split-Split Plot Design. Covariance Analysis. Programming Stata. Post Hoc Tests. Planned Comparisons. Built-in Multiple Range Tests. Programming Scheffe's Test. Preparing Graphs. Graphing in Stata. Correlation and Regression. Correlation. Linear Regression. Data Transformations. Binary, Ordinal, and Categorical Data Analysis. References. Appendix. Index.
About the author
George Boyhan, PhD, is a professor of horticulture and an extension vegetable specialist. He has worked for 15 years at the University of Georgia in this capacity and has conducted a wide variety of experiments requiring statistical analyses. Prior to this, he worked at Auburn University as a senior research associate, where he designed experiments, collected data, and analyzed results. Dr. Boyhan has worked with a wide variety of crops in his career. He currently studies the development of disease-resistant pumpkins, develops watermelon varieties for organic production, and evaluates sustainable production practices. Dr. Boyhan is an internationally recognized authority on vegetable production and has given presentations at a number of venues both in the United States and internationally. He has published two book chapters, over 40 referred publications, and many other publications on vegetable production and culture.
Summary
Practical statistics is a powerful tool used frequently by agricultural researchers and graduate students involved in investigating experimental design and analysis. One of the most widely used statistical analysis software packages for this purpose is Stata. The Stata software program has matured into a user-friendly environment with a wide variety of statistical functions. Agricultural Statistical Data Analysis Using Stata introduces readers to the use of Stata to solve agricultural statistical problems.
The book begins with an overview of statistical software and the Stata program. It explains the various windows and menus and describes how they are integrated. The next chapters explore data entry and importing as well as basic output formats and descriptive statistics. The author describes the ever-increasing design complexity and how this is implemented in the software. He reviews one of Stata’s strongest features, which is its programming ability. He also examines post hoc tests as well as Stata’s graphing capabilities. The final chapters provide information on regression analysis, data transformations, and the analyses of non-parametric data.
Many agricultural researchers are unprepared for the statistics they will need to use in their profession. Written in an easy-to-read format with screen shots and illustrations, the book is suitable for a wide audience, including beginners in statistics who are new to Stata, as well as more advanced Stata users and those interested in more complex designs.
