Statistical Methods for Planners


Book Description

This is a text for introductory courses on statistics for planners. It is unique in its orientation and concern for the realities of planning practice.The book covers such standard topics as probability, random variables, conditional probability and Bayes' rule, descriptive statistics, commonly used distributions, crosstabulations, Bayesian estimation, significance tests, measures of strength of association, bivariate and multivariate regression, experimental design, and non-parametric statistics. Its original contri bution is its focus on planning applications, with emphasis on Bayesian methods, multi-variate regression, the mathematical model of experimental results, and graphical methods of testing assumptions.Examples and homework problems have been chosen to relate statistical methods to issues of substantive interest to planners, in most cases using real-world data.While the book has been designed as a text for Masters in City Planning courses, portions of it have been used successfully at MIT in both doctoral and undergraduate planning courses. The applications and the range of statistical methods considered will also make this book a valuable resource for methodological classes in public policy analysis, economics, and social welfare. Students should be familiar with algebra, including logs, exponentials, and the graph- ing of functions. Calculus is not used. No prior knowledge of probability and statistics is assumed, although familiarity with histograms would be helpful.




Statistical Data for Planning


Book Description
















Planning, Construction, and Statistical Analysis of Comparative Experiments


Book Description

A valuable guide to conducting experiments and analyzing dataacross a wide range of applications Experimental design is an important component of the scientificmethod. This book provides guidance on planning efficientinvestigations. It compiles designs for a wide range ofexperimental situations not previously found in accessible form.Focusing on applications in the physical, engineering, biological,and social sciences, Planning, Construction, and StatisticalAnalysis of Comparative Experiments is a valuable guide todesigning experiments and correctly analyzing and interpreting theresults. The authors draw on their years of experience in theclassroom and as statistical consultants to research programs oncampus, in government, and in industry. The object is always tostrike the right balance between mathematical necessities andpractical constraints. Serving both as a textbook for students of intermediatestatistics and a hands-on reference for active researchers, thetext includes: A wide range of applications, including agricultural sciences,animal and biomedical sciences, and industrial engineeringstudies General formulas for estimation and hypothesis testing,presented in a unified and simplified manner Guidelines for evaluating the power and efficiency of designsthat are not perfectly balanced New developments in the design of fractional factorials withnon-prime numbers of levels in mixed-level fractionalfactorials Detailed coverage on the construction of plans and therelationship among categories of designs Thorough coverage of balanced, lattice, cyclic, and alphadesigns Strategies for sequences of fractional factorials Data sets and SAS® code on a companion web site An ideal handbook for the investigator planning a researchprogram, the text comes complete with detailed plans of experimentsand alternative approaches for added flexibility.