This book is aimed at practitioners who do not have a statistics degree and yet wish to apply statistics to help them arrive at valid and reliable conclusions while minimising the animal numbers required. Descriptions of the mathematical methods underpinning the topics covered in the book are purposefully kept to a minimum. If readers wish to gain a better understanding of the mathematics behind experimental design and statistical analysis then reading a more advanced textbook would help further their understanding.

The solutions to practical problems encountered when conducting animal experiments are explained using non-technical approaches. We believe that in many situations advanced statistical ideas can be employed successfully by researchers with no statistical qualification, using a combination of common sense and modern statistical analysis software packages. In our experience statistical ideas are often introduced to scientists using mathematical terminology. This can be off-putting to non-mathematicians and can leave researchers with, at best, only rudimentary statistical tools and at worst a fear of statistics.

To keep the descriptions of the statistical tools covered in this book as simple as possible, we shall occasionally give pragmatic explanations. While such explanations may not apply in all cases and in all scientific disciplines, this approach does allow us to introduce methods in a clear and concise way. By allowing ourselves the freedom to simplify the problems pragmatically, we aim to make statistical tools more accessible. The reader is invited, once they have familiarised themselves with (and hopefully found the benefit of using) the tools described in this book, to read more advanced texts on the subject.