A First Course in Statistical Methods (with CD-ROM) (Duxbury)

I needed this book for my graduate statistics course. I had already taken into to stats in my undergrad and had a wonderful textbook for that class. This book, however, is pretty bad. It explains everything and gives good examples, but it is just kind of, confusingly written. I read the whole book and did well in my stats class, but the book was difficult for me to understand with my previous stats knowledge. It is also outdated, the research methods and data collection methods that they mention are from, maybe, the 1980s? This book explains the theory behind the different statistical methods using lots of technical terms and symbols, making it much more complicated than an explanation needs to be. I frequently referred to my old stats book which explains everything so much better.So basically, if you are a mathematical genius this book is great, you will understand it, but if you are majoring in some other field and trying to learn stats for practical applications, well, good luck.

The book is lighter than most so that is a plus when their are many textbooks to carry....the text is clean and easy to read and their are many examples. One annoying factor is that many of the exercises refer back to the data in previous exercises so you have to flip through the pages over and over and over again.....and sometimes, the data is NOT in the problem where they say it is, but in the next problem on the page. The authors also changed some of the traditional symbols for their own symbolic language for certain parameters and that can be confusing for students (it is a "first course in statistics" book, but these changes make it confusing for the next level). In general, I like it better than other stats book I've used, though.

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 scratching your head just what exactly an "experimental unit" is and what "blocks" really are. My instructor and I had a difficult time identifying the components of a study because the lack of definitions makes it impossible to be certain.Please, professors, find another book. Another book that isn't the first edition would be even more appreciated. If you're looking to review or learn stats on your own, this is the best way to waste your money and time. The only circumstance under which you should buy this book is when you need a sleep-inducer. Even then, some sleep-inducers are much cheaper than this book.

hate the book

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.

Ok, again...First this book’s content was not conducive to learning. I’ve taken stats courses before with books that were much more clear in concepts.Second, I rented and received this book damaged and was charged for the damages. One- star all around.

Great book for stats course, but stats is awful... God bless anyone who ever has to take a stats course!

The two reviews before this one do a very good job of highlighting the shortcomings of this book.It is a very difficult text to follow. For a book whose objective is to explain statistical concepts to someone without previous advanced math or statistics experience, it fails miserably. I used this book for an introductory statistics course having already taken 3 semesters of calculus. Despite my background, I found it difficult to follow and found myself often going to 3rd party sources to learn the concepts. The book was simply a waste of money.