Statistics: Principles and Methods

A basic and well written introduction to statistics that is more aimed at a tertiary level, in general. It is more focused on the practical, rather than the theoretical and calculus or mathematically derived underpinnings of the methodologies and equations used. So, an introductory text of that sort.

As a teacher of a class in basic statistics, I am always trolling for the newest and better statistics text. Therefore, that was the mindset with which I examined this book. Without question, I could use it as the text for my course. All of the primary topics I consider essential are covered and the quality of the exposition is excellent. The coverage of a basic statistics class is well-known, so I will not spend the time here listing the topics that are covered. My students could read this book with relative ease, at least within their natural capability to understand the topic. There are many examples, a large number of exercises at the end of each section and solutions to the odd-numbered exercises are included in an appendix. The obvious question to answer at this point is,"Will I be adopting it for my statistics class?" No, I will not. I am currently using "The Basic Practice of Statistics 4th Edition" by David S. Moore and have been using his text for several years. My basic policy is to change texts only when I find one significantly better and this book did not meet that admittedly higher standard. It is better, but not by enough.