Graduate students get advice and guidance that varies across the board. I have seen some graduate students with amazing advisors and committee members that are obviously committed to the student’s success, and who provide a lot of concrete advice and help to get them going and shepherd them through the whole process. I have seen other graduate students who were given next to no advice or advice that was frankly awful, and who were let to languish or even to fail. And, of course, everything in between.

What became obvious over time was that graduate students in general did not have an understanding of the big picture of how statistical analysis fit into their research program. The statistical analysis is only one small component of a larger set of activities.

This book is meant to be a practical guide to the big picture and the small details of statistical analysis. While there are too many specific statistical methodologies to cover even a tiny fraction of them, the framework is very similar from case to case.