ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to the FORSPA for having supported the preparation of this manual. The author is also indebted to the Kerala Forest Research Institute for having granted permission to undertake this work and offering the necessary infrastructure facilities. Many examples used for illustration of the different statistical techniques described in the manual were based on data generated by Scientists at the Kerala Forest Research Institute. The author extends his gratitude to all his colleagues at the Institute for having gracefully co-operated in this regard. The author also wishes to thank deeply Smt. C. Sunanda and Mr. A.G. Varghese, Research Fellows of the Division of Statistics, Kerala Forest Research Institute, for patiently going through the manuscript and offering many helpful suggestions to improve the same in all respects.

This manual is dedicated to those who are determined to seek TRUTH, cutting down the veil of chance by the sword of pure reason.

March, 1999 K. Jayaraman