Practical Statistics and Experimental Design for Plant and Crop Science

Practical Statistics and Experimental Design for Plant and Crop Science
Alan G. Clewer, David H. Scarisbrick
Paperback
346 pages
January 2001
Presents readers with a user-friendly, non-technical introduction to statistics and the principles of plant and crop experimentation. Avoiding mathematical jargon, it explains how to plan and design an experiment, analyse results, interpret computer output and present findings. Using specific crop and plant case studies, this guide presents:
* The reasoning behind each statistical method is explained before giving relevant, practical examples
* Step-by-step calculations with examples linked to three computer packages (MINITAB, GENSTAT and SAS)
* Exercises at the end of many chapters
* Advice on presenting results and report writing
Written by experienced lecturers, this text will be invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying plant sciences, including plant and crop physiology, biotechnology, plant pathology and agronomy, plus ecology and environmental science students and those wanting a refresher or reference book in statistics.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Basic Principles of Experimentation.

Basic Statistical Calculations.

Basic Data Summary.

The Normal Distribution, the t-Distribution and Confidence Intervals.

Introduction to Hypothesis Testing.

Comparison of Two Independent Sample Means.

Linear Regression and Correlation.

Curve Fitting.

The Completely Randomised Design.

The Randomised Block Design.

The Latin Square Design.

Factorial Experiments.

Comparison of Treatment Means.

Checking the Assumptions and Transformation of Data.

Missing Values and Incomplete Blocks.

Split Plot Designs

Comparison of Regression Lines and Analysis of Covariance.

Analysis of Counts.

Some Non-parametric Methods.

Appendix 1: The Normal Distribution Function.

Appendix 2: Percentage Points of the Normal Distribution.

Appendix 3: Percentage Points of the t-Distribution.

Appendix 4a: 5 Per Cent Points of the F-Distribution.

Appendix 4b: 2.5 Per Cent Points of the F-Distribution.

Appendix 4c: 1 Per Cent Points of the F-Distribution.

Appendix 4d: 0.1 Per Cent Points of the F-Distribution.

Appendix 5: Percentage Points of the Sample Correlation Coefficient (r) When the Population Correlation Coefficient is 0 and n is the Number of X,Y Pairs.

Appendix 6: 5 Per Cent Points of the Studentised Range for Use in Tukey and SNK Tests.

Appendix 7: Percentage Points of the Chi-Square Distribution.

Appendix 8: Probabilities of S or Fewer Successes in the Binomial Distribution with n 'trials' and p = 05.

Appendix 9: Critical Values of T in the Wilcoxon Signed Rank or Matched Pairs Test.

Appendix 10: Critical Values of U in the Mann-Whitney Test.

References.

Further Reading.

Index.