Book Reviews
Abstract
Western Journal of Nursing Research Volicer, Beverly J., Multivariate Statistics for Nursing Research. Orlando, FL: Grune & Stratton, 346 pp., $44.50. The purpose of this book is to acquaint researchers with advanced statistical tehcniques widely used in health research but not generally understood by consumers. To Volicer, advanced statistical techniques are equated with multi- variate methods. Most statisticians would identify discriminant analysis, Hotel- ling's T2, factor analysis, principal components, canonical correlation, and multivariate analysis of variance as multivariate methods, but they do not include multiple regression, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance in that set. These latter procedures involve a single dependent measure. It is true that univariate and multivariate models can involve multiple independent vari- ables, but that is not enough to classify them as multivariate. Some multivariate methods are treated in the book, but only very briefly in a total of seven pages. As a result, this is a book about the univariate and not multivariate methods. The title is deceiving. The book is a mixed bag. The first five chapters provide an excellent review of a beginning course in statistics. Here and there the author provides guidelines for the novice researcher that are worth