Statistics II For Dummies

I teach statistics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Statistics 2 for Dummies is a well-written and easy-to-understand text which can be easily used in both the classroom and as a secondary reference source. Deborah Rumsey presents plenty of examples along with sufficient clear explanation to help the reader move from one level to the next. Someone well motivated can use this text to learn the basics for more advanced statistics; however, this text would be even more useful with a knowledgeable and patient instructor. I would suggest making one significant change for future editions. The author relies on the Minitab software package when discussing the use of computer aided statistical analysis. There are better, and often cheaper, software packages available for the user. Students will most likely have PASW, formally SPSS, available at most institutions of higher education. In addition, Amazon and many other retail outlets selling to students and faculty will have relatively inexpensive versions of this more powerful software available. While Minitab remains a viable option, and is certainly usable where available, I would recommend that in the next edition the author include instruction for the more popular PASW software package. Similarly, the program Mathematica should be at least mentioned in the text discussing computer aided statistical analysis, especially since this is a top choice for many in mathematics, economics, and many sciences. Rumsey's book does a very good job in tackling the types of regression in the use in making predictions. In addition the section covering nonparametric methods is very useful. As expected, these are advanced methods for statistical analysis, and the author assumes a moderately strong understanding of basic statistics. Fortunately, the author also refer to her first book, statistics one, to help guide the reader for remedial study. As a professor the book's greatest advantage is its relatively low price, something very important to today student. It is relatively easy to read, which makes the learning experience better. One item worth noting is the absence of exercises or material to test the reader's understanding. It would be easier to select this book for use in the classroom if such material were included or readily available from the publisher. Since this text appears to be primarily for the consumer market adding such material to the book would likely raise the price and defeat the purpose of the Dummies line of books. Based on this I typically use this book as a recommended reading and reference for my students.

It's a great book, covers most important topics of statistic in a clear and understandable way. Highly recommended.

This is a great book. I'm currently taking a few college level statistics classes and this really helps to give you something to build on, especially if the books your using are overly complicated and are giving you a hard time getting off on the right foot. You can read through the complete section on the topic of your choice in probably an hour and a half. You might be able to perform a few basic tests for a humanities class based on whats presented here, but you won't be able to provide a really strong analysis for upper level stat courses or journal or anything. For example, the regression section doesn't get into dummy variables, or higher order multiple nonlinear models, etc. For ANOVA tests, instead of just eyeballing the normality and equal variance assumptions, you could perform an Anderson Darling test in Minitab or a Levene's test for equal variance. However, this book isn't meant to have everything there is to know, and what it does provide does a great job of presenting everything in an understandable manner. If this author were to write a more thorough book on some of theses topics in the same manner, I would seriously consider buying them as well.

Excellent book for someone already familiar with basic concepts in Statistics - like standard deviations, distributions, probabilities, etc - and wanting to delve deeper into more sophisticated analysis(parametric vs non-parametric, Spearman's vs Pearson's correlation, regressions, ANOVA, etc). Don't be scared, though, it will present statistical methods with numerous examples and exercises. For me it was especially pleasurable to read as I needed a book that would summarize and categorize the knowledge I already had.

I'm currently enrolled in a biostatistics class in a graduate program and have found this book to be a great addition to the textbook. It explains things clearly and provides great examples. The writer is funny and keeps the material lively. Very good review for someone who hasn't taken stats in a long time and is jumping back to school as well.

I need all the help I could get with stats, and this was my go to guide. One small problem was that it was short on explanations. But I would recommend this to those students like myself, who need all the help we could get with subjects like this.

I have more doctoral level books about statistics, but this was a great overview refresher that I could flip through to help decide which type of analysis was appropriate for my research questions. Simple and to the point- but also appropriate for someone who has taken courses in stats before.

I am a graduate student taking Biostats 2 and ventured to buy the Statistics 2 for Dummies. This book is simply awesome!!!!! It is so very easy to read, I feel like I am back in 3rd grade. I was having a beast of a time with multiple regression and was petrified of the algebra associated with curvilinear regression (it's been over 2 decades since I tackled this and I'm afraid I must have 'deleted' those files). In just one afternoon I have it squared away! I may even attempt to 'teach' my colleagues in my group!