John Fox is professor of sociology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Fox earned a PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972, and prior to arriving at McMaster, he taught at the University of Alberta and at York University in Toronto, where he was cross-appointed in the sociology and mathematics and statistics departments and directed the university's statistical consulting service. He has delivered numerous lectures and workshops on statistical topics in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at such places as the summer program of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the Oxford University Spring School in Quantitative Methods for Social Research, and the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association. Much of his recent work has been on formulating methods for visualizing complex statistical models and on developing software in the R statistical computing environment. He is the author and co-author of many articles, in such journals as Sociological Methodology, Sociological Methods and Research, The Journal of the American Statistical Association, The Journal of Statistical Software, The Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, Statistical Science, Social Psychology Quarterly, The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, and The Canadian Journal of Sociology. He has written a number of other books, including Regression Diagnostics (SAGE, 1991), Nonparametric Simple Regression (SAGE, 2000), Multiple and General-ized Nonparametric Regression (SAGE, 2000), A Mathematical Primer for Social Statistics (SAGE, 2008), and, with Sanford Weisberg, An R Companion to Applied Regression, Second Edition (SAGE, 2010). Fox also edits the SAGE Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences (QASS) monograph series.

This is a broad introduction to the R statistical computing environment in the context of applied regression analysis. It is a thoroughly updated edition of John Fox's bestselling text An R and S-Plus Companion to Applied Regression (SAGE, 2002). The Second Edition is intended as a companion to any course on modern applied regression analysis. The authors provide a step-by-step guide to using the high-quality free statistical software R, an emphasis on integrating statistical computing in R with the practice of data analysis, coverage of generalized linear models, enhanced coverage of R graphics and programming, and substantial web-based support materials. An accompanying website for the book can be found at http:/socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Books/Companion/index.html provides: R scripts for examples by chapter Data files used in the book The car package (Companion to Applied Regression), an accompanying software for regression diagnostics and other regression-related tasks Other resources to help students get the most out of the text