Books about Observational from Amazon.com

"It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town…." Each week, more than four million radio listeners hear these words, and settle in for some old-fashioned, up-to-the-minute storytelling

During live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor takes us to "the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve," where "the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." These expertly crafted tales touch the heart and tickle the funnybone. Warm, poignant, often hilarious, each is a classic of live storytelling, full of gentle humor, genuine emotion, and (more often than not) surprising insights into family, community, love, faith, and hope..
Price: $14.52 [Notify me when price goes down.]

You decide to waste another perfectly good hour getting bogus car advice from the Car Talk guys when what should happen but some remark from the caller launches either Tom or Ray off topic and onto a story about The Sleek Black Beauty, their most recent wife, or their days at MIT..
Price: $4.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The long-awaited second edition of this well-received textbook gives a thorough introduction to observational astronomy. Starting with the basics of positional astronomy and systems of time, it continues with charts and catalogs covering both historically important publications and modern electronic databases. The book builds on a fundamental discussion of the basics of light and the effects of the atmosphere on astronomical observations. Chapters include discussions of optical telescopes, detectors, photometry, variable stars, astrometry, spectroscopy, and solar observations. This edition contains new discussions of measurements with CCDs and appendices give basic statistical methods, useful astronomical software and websites, and sources of accurate time-calibration signals. Observational Astronomy is the perfect textbook for upper level undergraduate or beginning graduate courses on astronomy. Examples based on real astronomical data are placed throughout the text. Each of the well-illustrated chapters is supported by a set of graduated problems and suggestions for further reading..
Price: $47.20 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Essentials of Research Methods in Psychology by Jeannne S. Zechmeister, Eugene B. Zechmeister, and John J. Shaughnessy is designed to teach students the process of research (developing research ideas, forming a hypothesis, choosing a design, selecting the appropriate method, collecting, interpreting and reporting the results). A guide for the research process is introduced in the second chapter and reinforced as each method is introduced. The use of a consistent framework allows students to see the commonality of each method making the subsequent methods easier to learn. Essentials is based on the successful Research Methods in Psychology 5th edition text by the same authors. This text was completely rewritten in a more conversational style including the use of cartoons and insights from researchers describing how they conducted studies to appeal to students with little mathematical background. Case studies are used to show the use of appropriate methods and the ethical considerations inherent in the research process. This 250 page paperback text is ideal for a community college or for a four year university where brief coverage is desired..
Price: $56.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Providing a comprehensive picture of the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of non-experimental studies of both infectious and non-infectious diseases, the Second Edition of this widely used text has been thoroughly updated to take into account the numerous developments in epidemiology over the past decade. Since the first edition was published in 1986, additional sources of data have become available through the increasing use of computerized records for health-related purposes. Also, a better understanding of the uses and limitations of certain epidemiologic concepts has been gained. Modifications of traditional study designs, including nested case-control studies and case-cohort studies, are now more frequently employed. Biological markers of exposure, disease susceptibility, and disease itself are used in many studies and methods of statistical analysis have been further developed. All of these developments have been considered in writing the Second Edition.
The authors cover the full scope of observational studies, describing in detail cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, and epidemic investigation. The use of statistical procedures is described in easy-to-understand terms. Sample size estimation, sampling, measurement, and measurement error are fully discussed. Each chapter in the second edition has been updated and several chapters have been expanded. Chapter 3, which summarizes sources of data on disease occurrence, includes several additional sources of data. Chapter 5, which describes modifications of traditional study designs, now contains nested case-control and case-cohort studies. Chapter 15, on other types of measurement, has been expanded to include sections on measurement in epidemiologic studies of the elderly and on biological markers since these have become major areas of epidemiologic research in recent years. Much of the material in Chapters 6, 7, and 9 on the analysis of data from epidemiologic studies is also new to this edition.
Perhaps the greatest challenge for the authors in writing this Second Edition was to make some of the modern, frequently used methods of statistical analysis understandable to readers with a limited mathematical or statistical background. Although this book is intended for readers who have had introductory courses in epidemiology and biostatistics, even readers who do not fully comprehend the theory behind some of the techniques should understand the rationale for their use and be able to interpret results when they appear on a computer printout or in the literature. The Second Edition of this widely used text will serve as a practical resource for students and practitioners of epidemiology, public health and biostatistics..
Price: $43.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The guys share some of their favorite calls about the world where cars and animals meet. Luckily, it’s not dog-eat-dog, but sometimes it’s horse-eat-steering-wheel. Tom and Ray Magliozzi are America’s foremost auto mechanics So usually people phone in to their radio show with questions about cars—buying them, driving them, keeping them running. But every so often, out of the blue, Click and Clack are also called on to be amateur veterinary psychologists. They’re asked to figure out why a horse has eaten a steering wheel, or why a 100-pound dog insists on riding on the roof of a pickup truck, or how a white rat the size of a two-liter Coke bottle got into a poor young woman’s Chevy. And while they might not know the answer, they always come up with something. This is a collection of calls about cars, animals, and the mysterious, often hilarious times when they meet. It leads Tom and Ray down a familiar path—of wild speculation, occasional brilliant suggestions, and lots of laughs. This is a must-have for anyone who loves animals or those two peculiar beasts who host Car Talk..
Price: $6.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Lefty: Haven’t you read about the dangers of drinking?
Dusty: I have. And it led me to give up reading

Like the News from Lake Wobegon and Guy Noir, Private Eye, The Lives of the Cowboys sketch has become a signature part of A Prairie Home Companion. Each week, radio listeners can’t wait to hear Lefty’s latest poem and Dusty’s latest rant.

In six complete sketches drawn from the radio show, the two pardners cope with hangovers and citrusy aftershave, try to get in the Christmas mood (not much luck there), meet a vampire, drive a herd of 10,000 free range chickens, tangle with a territorial poet named Big Messer, pay a visit to the New York Public Library, and wind up in the San Luis Obispo County Jail for mistaking a cocker spaniel for a coyote. Each is a glimpse into daily life in and mostly out of the saddle. Includes four songs.

Garrison Keillor stars as Lefty; Tim Russell as Dusty; with Sue Scott, Tom Keith, and Danielle De Vecchio, and Julie Boyd..
Price: $4.68 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Introducing a range of useful techniques and skills for those wishing to undertake observational work in astronomy and planetary science, this book covers the principles of telescopes and detectors, photometry and spectroscopy and microscopy techniques for analyzing samples. Fully self-contained, it will be a valuable guide for undergraduate students of astronomy and planetary science, as well as amateur astronomers..
Price: $39.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An Observational study is an empiric investigation of the effects caused by a treatment, policy , or intervention in which it is not possible to assign subjects at random to treatment or control, as would be done in a controlled experiment. Observational studies are common in most fields that study the effects of treatments on people. The second edition of l Studies¿ is about 50 percent longer than the first edition, with many new examples and methods. There are new chapters on nonadditive models for treatment effects (Chapter 5) and planning observational studies (Chapter 11) and Chapter 9, on coherence, has been extensively rewritten. Paul R. Rosenbaum is Robert G. Putzel Professor, Department of Statistics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association..
Price: $75.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This new edition of Allen's classic "Astrophysical Quantities" belongs on every astronomer's bookshelf. It has been thoroughly revised and updated by a team of internationally renowned team of astronomers and astrophysicists. Topics covered include: * General constants and units * Atoms, molecules, and spectra * Observational astronomy at all wavelengths from radio to gamma-rays, and neutrinos * Planetary astronomy: Earth, planets and satellites, and solar system small bodies * The Sun, normal stars, and stars with special characteristics * Cataclysmic and symbiotic variables, supernovae * Theoretical stellar evolution * Circumstellar and interstellar material * Star clusters, galaxies, quasars, and active galactic nuclei * Clusters and groups of galaxies * Cosmology.
Price: $90.22 [Notify me when price goes down.]