ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapters, we have been introduced to foundational concepts in biostatistics, including historical and philosophical views of science (Chapter 1), probability (Chapter 2), probability density functions (Chapter 3), parameters and point estimation (Chapter 4), sampling distributions and interval estimation (Chapter 5), and hypothesis testing (Chapter 6). In this chapter, we conclude the consideration of foundational topics by presenting information to allow effective planning for research and analysis. Of particular importance, sampling and experimental design are formally introduced. We will see that careful consideration of these processes is required to meet two important goals of inferential statistics: (1) extending inference to the population(s) of interest and (2) providing evidence of cause and effect.
