Associations and correlations are ways of describing how a pair of variables change together as a result of their connection. In other words, if one of your variables changes, the other is likely to change too.

These types of analysis are some of the most used – and misunderstood – statistical techniques. Most results you’ll encounter are wrong, and for a very good reason. In this book we’re going to understand just why this is, avoid the most common pit-falls and learn how to make sure you get the correct results first time, every time.

Here, you’ll learn a holistic method of discovering the story of all the relationships in your data by guiding you through a variety of the most used association and correlation tests – and helping you to choose them correctly.

The holistic method is about selecting the most appropriate univariate and multivariate tests and using them together in a single strategic framework to give you confidence that the story you discover is likely to be the true story of your data.

Associations and Correlations for Medical Research is written in plain English with a focus on understanding the data, how to work with it, choose the right ways to analyse it, select the correct statistical tools and how to interpret the results in a way that is easy to understand.

It enables researchers of all backgrounds to understand and to evaluate critically the results of analyses that they are likely to encounter in their own research and in that of others.

Best of all, it makes no assumptions about your previous experience with statistics, is packed with visually intuitive examples and is perfect for beginners!