A First Course in Statistical Methods

A FIRST COURSE IN STATISTICAL METHODS addresses a pressing need in the methods course-a shorter text designed for a one-term course. By selecting and revising material from their best-selling two-semester text, AN INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS, Fifth Edition, the authors created an ideal book for a one-term course in statistical methods. Based on the belief that statistics is a thought process tied to the scientific method, the text utilizes a 5-step approach: 1) defining the problem, 2) collecting data, 3) summarizing data, 4) analyzing and interpreting the data, and 5) communicating the results of the analysis.

Customer Reviews:

Not an easy read

By Stan Getz - November 20, 2007

I had to read this book for a statistics course. In the Preface, it states "We presume students using this book have a minimal mathematical background (high school algebra) and no prior coursework in statistics" (page xi; 2004 edition). I found this statement to be stretching the truth; this book is hard to read, hard to understand and hard to digest. Contrary to the preface's inviting statement, the reader would be in a MUCH better position to have mastered calculus and to have HAD previous experience in statistics. This book is NOT an easy read as the statement above would suggest. I had to abandon using this book in the course and resort to other texts. Caveat emptor.

Good Book on the Subject

By Robert "A life-long reader that learns most t... - June 16, 2008

Statistical analysis is a dificult subject to grasp, and I felt this book did a good job of explaining the material. It is quite "hands on" with a focus on how to handle practical problems, and has enough theory to help understand the basic concepts. It avoids the upper level mathematics, concentrating instead on the logic & background of each analytical process. I found this book to be as good as any, and better than most.

Waste of paper pulp

By Miao Ling - February 5, 2008

The text doesn't deliver anything it promises to be on the back cover. It's extremely verbose: it uses several words, sometimes several sentences, to express ideas that a few words would suffice to say. It puts forth and repeats commonsense things everybody already knows, taking up lots of space in the process. I wanted to reproduce a few paragraphs to illustrate this weakness, but I'm concerned about copyright stuff. Really, what do you expect from a book where the most lavish praise from its own publisher is "a new, concise text"? If "conciseness" is the best thing about this book, I shudder to think of the contents.

Further, the book promises clear definitions and explanations. Nothing of the kind. Of ten important terms (printed in bold), you'd be lucky to have two properly explained the way a dictionary would explain them. Instead of definitions per se, the book relies on lots of examples. The examples are, of course, also lengthily and ambiguously worded, leaving you... read more