The text is appropriate in a 1st of 2 statistics courses. It does not cover non-linear regression as would be used to assess likelihood of outcome, it does not cover descriptive clustering, and it does not cover predictive segmentation. It also does not cover time-series analysis. As a result, it does not cover the techniques commonly employed in business.
But it does provide the background necessary prior to learning and use of more advanced topics. This book does not need to change for at least several hundred years. May be good forever, literally. Really clear, easy to understand. Nice diagrams and examples, many questions and exercises built in. Built to use Excel. World-class for a stats book. Very consistent and stays within its limits.
Doesn't stray from introductory statistics using the Excel stats package. Flows in the order I would choose. Not need or benefit to cover in anything other than chapter order. Very clear for a stats book, Questions seemed carefully worded to avoid misinterpretation. Of course, students are very clever when it comes to finding ways to misinterpret, so we'll see once I use it in class.
Unless someone is professionally offended, and looking for ways to claim to be offended in order to further their career or notoriety, it is unlikely in my opinion they will find a fair, reasonable, and legitimate cause to be offended as a result of this text. Reviewed by William M. It is purportedly designed for a one-semester course. For that at least relative to business students at UNO , it is too long -- and too long on the mathematics.
For a For a two-semester course, at least for our purposes, it is too short. For example, there is no discussion of 2-factor Anova, RBD, etc. However, there is much to admire about the way that the authors present the ideas. I spent about four hours reading various parts of the text and found no sign of bias or any gross errors. One can quibble over some of the definitions, e.
I saw a typo or two -- e. As with any book, there are probably others. But let me emphasize that I am not a professional statistician. Surprisingly, calculus techniques make an appearance toward the end of the book the average business student will have little or no idea of that. But, aside from some instructions for using Excel for regression analysis why not do this for Anova as well? In the chapter on the F-distribution, where did those p-values come from?
Or did I miss something? How is this text going to compete with those? Overall, I like the breezy writing style. But it is a bit bipolar, occasionally almost patronizing and then rather technical. Some terms are used which the student audience has virtually no chance of understanding. Better to omit those or provide explanation. On the other hand, since few students these days actually read books, particularly math books, anyway, why not let the authors express themselves in a way that they find logical and intellectually appealing?
My students depend on me to explain the material, or, if I fail them, YouTube. The text seemed terminologically consistent to me. I do recall a spot in the Anova section where the use of n nT? Introductory statistics is not a very modular sort of subject -- it is more a continuous development. For example, the concept of p-value is introduced in chapter 9 of virtually every stats text.
Otherwise, I liked the presentation given here in ch. The topics of the text are presented in the normal progression. There is some possibility of changing the order of presentation after hypothesis testing Ch. Once again, this is how introductory stats works. Interface is fine, although I absolutely hate scrolling through a pdf. Students would definitely want a print version. Finally, the unscripted part of the review.
There is a lot to like about this presentation of the subject. Some parts are quite enjoyable. Here are my criticisms, in order of my view of their increasing importance. The type-setting if that is the right term of the formulas in generally pretty lousy. For example, x-bar is always shown with the bar about a mile above the x. The integral on p. Those formulas for r are terrible-looking. I always use MathType for this stuff.
Many authors do this. Who, except programmers, cares how the computer does it? The definition formula offers insight. I like the chapters on discrete and continuous distributions. I think that those on confidence intervals and Anova are not well-written and will be confusing to students. With the chapter on regression, the authors are forced to yield to the complexity of the subject and necessarily trail off into territory that the typical business student has no chance to follow.
Introductory Business Statistics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the one-semester statistics course for business, economics, and related majors. Core statistical concepts and skills have been augmented with practical business examples, scenarios, and exercises.
The result is a meaningful understanding of the discipline, which will serve students in their business careers and real-world experiences. Content Accuracy rating: 5 The contents of this textbook are accurate, error-free and unbiased. Clarity rating: 4 This textbook is well organized consistently and easy to follow. Consistency rating: 5 The contents of this textbook are internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. Modularity rating: 5 There are 13 chapters in this textbook, and after reading each chapter, I think the text can be readily divided into smaller reading sections.
Interface rating: 5 Download the textbook online is easy and the hyperlinks in each section work well. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 I cannot recall any grammatical errors in the textbook. Cultural Relevance rating: 5 I think there is no culturally offensive content. Comments As an instructor to community college students, I think the content of this textbook is easy to go through for an introduction class of Business Statistics.
Content Accuracy rating: 5 The contents seem to be accurate, unbiased, and without any gross errors. Clarity rating: 5 Overall, the text is clear, easy to understand, and concise.
Consistency rating: 5 The book is consistent in terms of concepts, materials, annotations, and chapter structure. Modularity rating: 5 The chapters are independent of each other, and a chapter can easily be added or skipped based on individual needs. Interface rating: 5 I did not find any interface issue. Grammatical Errors rating: 5 I did not find any grammatical errors. Cultural Relevance rating: 5 I did not find anything insensitive or offensive. Comments Overall, this is a book with the minimum number of chapters needed for an introductory business statistics course.
It should also be pointed out that while there are a couple of chapters on probability, this book spends presents most formulas as "black boxes" rather than worry about the derivation or origin of the formulas.
The probability sections do not include any significant combinatorics work, which is sometimes included at this level. I did not find any errors in the formulas presented but I did not work many end-of-chapter problems to gauge the accuracy of their answers. There isn't much changing in the introductory stats world, so I have no concerns about the book becoming outdated rapidly.
The examples and problems still feel relevant and reasonably modern. As students increasingly buy TIs or Inspires, these sections of the book may lose relevance faster than other parts. The book gives a list of key terms and their definitions at the end of each chapter which is a nice feature. It also has a formula review at the end of each chapter. I can imagine that these are heavily used by students when studying!
Formulas are easy to find and read and are well defined. There are a few areas that I might have found frustrating as a student. For example, the explanation for the difference in formulas for a population vs sample standard deviation is quite weak.
Again, this is a book that focuses on sort of a "black-box" approach but you may have to supplement such sections for some students. This low rating should not be taken as an indicator of an issue with this book but would be true of virtually any statistics book.
Different books still use different variable symbols even for basic calculated statistics. However, I think it would be possible to skip some chapters or use the chapters in a different order without any loss of functionality. This book uses a very standard order for the material. The chapter on regressions comes later than it does in some texts but it doesn't really matter since that chapter never seems to fit smoothly anywhere. There are numerous end of chapter problems, some with answers, available in this book.
I'm vacillating on whether these problems would be more useful if they were distributed after each relevant section or are better clumped at the end of the whole chapter. That might be a matter of individual preference. I found no errors. However, there were several sections where the punctuation seemed non-ideal. This did not affect the over-all useability of the book though. I'm not sure how well this book would work internationally as many of the examples contain domestic American references.
However, I did not see anything offensive or biased in the book. As the title implies, this is a brief introduction textbook. It covers the fundamental of the introductory statistics, however not a comprehensive text on the subject.
A teacher can use this book as the sole text of an introductory statistics A teacher can use this book as the sole text of an introductory statistics. The prose format of definitions and theorems make theoretical concepts accessible to non-math major students.
The textbook covers all chapters required in this level course. It is accurate; the subject matter in the examples to be up to date, is timeless and wouldn't need to be revised in future editions; there is no error except a few typographical errors.
There are no logic errors or incorrect explanations. This text will remain up to date for a long time since it has timeless examples and exercises, it wouldn't be outdated. The information is presented clearly with a simple way and the exercises are beneficial to follow the information. The material is presented in a clear, concise manner.
The text is easy readable for the first time statistics student. The structure of the text is very consistent. Topics are presented with examples, followed by exercises. Problem sets are appropriate for the level of learner. When the earlier matters need to be referenced, it is easy to find; no trouble reading the book and finding results, it has a consistent scheme.
This book is set very well in sections. There is no logic errors and incorrect explanations, a few typographical errors is just to be ignored. This book is pretty comprehensive for being a brief introductory book. This book covers all necessary content areas for an introduction to Statistics course for non-math majors. The text book provides an effective index, plenty of exercises, The text book provides an effective index, plenty of exercises, review questions, and practice tests.
It provides references and case studies. The glossary and index section is very helpful for students and can be used as a great resource. Content appears to be accurate throughout. Being an introductory book, the book is unbiased and straight to the point. The terminology is standard. The content in textbook is up to date.
It will be very easy to update it or make changes at any point in time because of the well-structured contents in the textbook. The author does a great job of explaining nearly every new term or concept.
The book is easy to follow, clear and concise. The graphics are good to follow. The language in the book is easily understandable. I found most instructions in the book to be very detailed and clear for students to follow.
Overall consistency is good. It is consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The writing is straightforward and standardized throughout the text and it makes reading easier. The authors do a great job of partitioning the text and labeling sections with appropriate headings.
The table of contents is well organized and easily divisible into reading sections and it can be assigned at different points within the course. Overall, the topics are arranged in an order that follows natural progression in a statistics course with some exception.
They are addressed logically and given adequate coverage. The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way most of time. Some examples might need to consider citing the sources or use differently to reflect current inclusive teaching strategies.
Overall, it's well-written and good recourse to be an introduction to statistical methods. Some materials may not need to be covered in an one-semester course.
Various examples and quizzes can be a great recourse for instructor. The text includes the introductory statistics topics covered in a college-level semester course. An effective index and glossary are included, with functional hyperlinks. The content of this text is accurate and error-free, based on a random sampling of various pages throughout the text.
Several examples included information without formal citation, leading the reader to potential bias and discrimination. These examples should be corrected to reflect current values of inclusive teaching. The text contains relevant information that is current and will not become outdated in the near future.
The statistical formulas and calculations have been used for centuries. The examples are direct applications of the formulas and accurately assess the conceptual knowledge of the reader. The text is very clear and direct with the language used. Graphs, tables, and visual displays are clearly labeled. The terminology and framework of the text is consistent.
The hyperlinks are working effectively, and the glossary is valuable. Each chapter contains modules that begin with prerequisite information and upcoming learning objectives for mastery. The modules are clearly defined and can be used in conjunction with other modules, or individually to exemplify a choice topic.
With the prerequisite information stated, the reader understands what prior mathematical understanding is required to successfully use the module. I think this rearranged version of the index would better align with current Introductory Statistics texts. The structure is very organized with the prerequisite information stated and upcoming learner outcomes highlighted.
Each module is well-defined. Adding an option of returning to the previous page would be of great value to the reader. While progressing through the text systematically, this is not an issue, but when the reader chooses to skip modules and read select pages then returning to the previous state of information is not easily accessible.
Several examples contained data that were not formally cited. These examples need to be corrected to reflect current inclusive teaching strategies. An included solutions manual for the exercises would be valuable to educators who choose to use this text. As a text for an introductory course, standard topics are covered. It was nice to see some topics such as power, sampling, research design and distribution free methods covered, as these are often omitted in abbreviated texts. Each module Each module introduces the topic, has appropriate graphics, illustration or worked example s as appropriate and concluding with many exercises.
A comprehensive glossary provides definitions for all the major terms and concepts. The case studies give examples of practical applications of statistical analyses. Many of the case studies contain the actual raw data. To note is that the on-line e-book provides several calculators for the essential distributions and tests. These are provided in lieu of printed tables which are not included in the pdf. Such tables are readily available on the web. The content is accurate and error free.
Notation is standard and terminology is used accurately, as are the videos and verbal explanations therein. Online links work properly as do all the calculators.
The text appears neutral and unbiased in subject and content. The text achieves contemporary relevance by ending each section with a Statistical Literacy example, drawn from contemporary headlines and issues. Of course, the core topics are time proven. The text is very readable. Meanwhile for this same content the on-line version appears streamlined, uncluttered, enhancing the value of the active links. This terminology and symbol use are consistent throughout the text and with common use in the field.
The pdf text and online version are also consistent by content, but with the online e-book offering much greater functionality. The chapters and topics may be used in a selective manner. Certain chapters have no pre-requisite chapter and in all cases, those required are listed at the beginning of each module.
It would be straightforward to select portions of the text and reorganize as needed. The online version is highly modular offering students both ease of navigation and selection of topics. Chapter topics are arranged appropriately. In an introductory statistics course, there is a logical flow given the buildup to the normal distribution, concept of sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression and additional parametric and non-parametric tests.
The normal distribution is central to an introductory course. Necessary precursor topics are covered in this text, while its use in significance and hypothesis testing follow, and thereafter more advanced topics, including multi-factor ANOVA.
Each chapter is structured with several modules, each beginning with pre-requisite chapter s , learning objectives and concluding with Statistical Literacy sections providing a self-check question addressing the core concept, along with answer, followed by an extensive problem set. The clear and concise learning objectives will be of benefit to students and the course instructor. No solutions or answer key is provided to students. The on-line interface works well. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by its options and functionality.
The pdf appears somewhat sparse by comparison to publisher texts, lacking pictures, colored boxes, etc. But the on-line version has many active links providing definitions and graphic illustrations for key terms and topics.
Most sections also have short videos that are professionally done, with narration and smooth graphics. In this way, the text is interactive and flexible, offering varied tools for students. The text in pdf form appeared to free of grammatical errors, as did the on-line version, text, graphics and videos.
This text contains no culturally insensitive or offensive content. The focus of the text is on concepts and explanation. The text would be a great resource for students. The full content would be ambitious for a 1-semester course, such use would be unlikely. The text is clearly geared towards students with no statistics background nor calculus. The text could be used in two styles of course. For 1st year students early chapters on graphs and distributions would be the starting point, omitting later chapters on Chi-square, transformations, distribution-free and size effect chapters.
Alternatively, for upper level students the introductory chapters could be bypassed with the latter chapters then covered to completion. The e-book videos are an enabling tool if this approach is adopted. This is a comprehensive book on statistical methods, its settings and most importantly the interpretation of the results. But the challenge is the But the challenge is the knowledge of how to set the case, setting parameters for example confidence intervals and knowing its implication on the interpretation of the results.
If not done properly this could lead to deceptive inferences, inadvertently or purposely. This book does a great job in explaining the above using many examples and real world case studies. If you are looking for a book to learn and apply statistical methods, this is a great one. I think the author could consider revising the title of the book to reflect the above, as it is more than just an introduction to statistics, may be include the word such as practical guide.
The contents of the book seems accurate. Some plots and calculations were randomly selected and checked for accuracy. The book topics are up to date and in my opinion, will not be obsolete in the near future. I think the smartest thing the author has done is, not tied the book with any particular software such as minitab or spss. No matter what the software is, standard deviation is calculated the same way as it is always.
The contents and examples cited are clear and explained in simple language. Data analysis and presentation of the results including mathematical calculations, graphical explanation using charts, tables, figures etc are presented with clarity. Terminology is consistant. Framework for each chapter seems consistent with each chapter beginning with a set of defined topics, and each of the topic divided into modules with each module having a set of learning objectives and prerequisite chapters.
The text book is divided into chapters with each chapter further divided into modules. Each of the modules have detailed learning objectives and prerequisite required. So you can extract a portion of the book and use it as a standalone to teach certain topics or as a learning guide to apply a relevant topic. Presentation of the topics are well thought and are presented in a logical fashion as if it would be introduced to someone who is learning the contents.
Author: Srinivas R. Read Five Books Free! Become a member of Free-Ebooks. Login here Membership requires a valid email address. Sign up here. Book Description Basic Business Statistics consist of 11 chapters.
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