Book Description
You have more information at hand about your business environment than ever before. But are you using it to “out-think” your rivals? If not, you may be missing out on a potent competitive tool.
In Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning , Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris argue that the frontier for using data to make decisions has shifted dramatically. Certain high-performing enterprises are now building their competitive strategies around data-driven insights that in turn generate impressive business results. Their secret weapon? Analytics: sophisticated quantitative and statistical analysis and predictive modeling.
Exemplars of analytics are using new tools to identify their most profitable customers and offer them the right price, to accelerate product innovation, to optimize supply chains, and to identify the true drivers of financial performance. A wealth of examples—from organizations as diverse as Amazon, Barclay’s, Capital One, Harrah’s, Procter & Gamble, Wachovia, and the Boston Red Sox—illuminate how to leverage the power of analytics.
Customer Reviews:
Good primer and sales piece.......2007-10-12
This book is a good introduction to the applications and benefits of business analytics. It focuses on benefits and has minimal coverage of analysis methods.
I am somewhat put off by the subtitle "The New Science of Winning" which probably helps sell the book, and which reflects the extreme culture of winners and losers that dominates business culture these days. History shows that any culture without a better balance of competition with cooperation and ethics will be eclipsed.
Covers the basics of both the what-is and the how-to of fact-based decision making.......2007-10-04
Mark Twain once said something to the effect that it isn't what you don't know that gets you into trouble, it's what you know for certain that isn't so that will get you. Too many businesses are run on assumptions, guesses, and inertia. What we are doing now worked in the past so lets keep doing it. Shareholders lose a lot of money when their businesses are run with that kind of thinking.
This book is about fact-based decision making. It is really more of an introduction to the subject than a detailed text, but it is still quite useful for those wanting to learn the basics of the subject. The first five chapters discuss what analytics are, how you compete using them, and the growth path from wondering what an analytic competitor is through the fives steps to becoming one. They also discuss what it means when using internal data that you completely control, and what it means when you do it using data you control and supplier or customer data that you do not control.
The last four chapters take on the practical side of implementing a road map to becoming an analytic competitor. I particularly enjoyed the chapter emphasizing that all your plans will fail if you don't have the right people. Systems alone won't do it. The next chapter discusses the kinds of systems you need. The last chapter discusses the future of analytics.
For the right audience, this is a fascinating book. The stories about businesses succeeding by using analytics or getting themselves into serious trouble by ignoring them are all good and entertaining. Be careful, though. Some of the stories talk about instances (such as the Red Sox losing the World Series by letting the pitcher go beyond his statistical maximum pitching range) rather than trends and large numbers of events. Statistics don't work on instances. That is, at any given moment a coin might come up heads or tails. Just because there have been ten heads flips in a row does not mean you should take less than 50-50 odds on the next flip. It is still 50-50. That pitcher might have won, might have lost that game and it would have become part of the statistical information. However, for the stats to become powerful, you would have to be able to make a strong prediction over a series of games that he pitched. That is, if he goes beyond X pitches in 10 games he will lose about 8 of them. That means he still wins two (or one or three) and you don't know when in the series the wins will come.
The idea that very small observations can be exploited for big advantage is very important in today's ever more competitive business climate. For example Harrah's learned that moving the odds on slot machines one-tenth of one percent in their favor did not affect customer play at all, but netted them at extra $80 million (company wide). Marriott's hotel management system improves hotel performance by a couple percent. Remember that these improvements incur little cost, so most of the improvement flows quickly to the bottom line.
I thought that might get your attention. Read it so you can learn and profit from it.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
A limited introduction to business analytics.......2007-09-21
MY RATING SYSTEM:
* - if you have to chose between torture and reading this book, then you might want to consider reading the book - although it depends on just how severe the torture would be.
** - if you've lost your job and have quite a bit of free time on your hands, and don't have anything else better to do, then you might want to consider reading this book; don't expect to learn much or really be entertained. It will however, help you pass the time until your death.
*** - meh...I'm indifferent. Reading this book will not alter your life in any significant way, yet it is not so horrendously dreadful that your taking the time to read it will be a complete waste of time.
**** - Good book to great book zone here. You should probably read this book if you have some spare time. This book could be interesting, entertaining, or informative.
***** - Outstanding book! Make time to read this book - you'll learn or be entertained or intrigued. The book might even be good enough to provide original or helpful insights into the world that we live in.
REVIEW:
Competing on Analytics serves as an interesting, albeit limited, introduction to the concept of using complex data collection, management, and analysis techniques to gain a competitive edge in business.
For me, the book served as a useful introduction, but fell far short of satisfying the objectives I had in mind when I first came across it. What I was expecting was a book that provide a detailed guide to developing and implementing an analytical approach to business decision making. While early on the authors acknowledge the limitations of the book, I found what followed to be less than satisfying.
The book contained a variety of examples of companies that were using analytical techniques to improve the quality of business decision making, and discussed a variety of business areas in which companies might want to adopt such analytical techniques but failed to present comprehensive case studies that would provide real guidance to readers. I would have liked to have been led through a few cases, from a diverse set of industries, where the authors describe what information was collected and why, how the information was manipulated, analyzed and presented, and how the entire analytics process was influenced by and/or influenced the company's strategy and performance. Instead, the book left me with the impression that I need to go out an hire a consulting firm to lead me through the development of an analytics program.
One of the most ironic components of the book was that while it touted the use of analytical techniques and objective analysis to motivate business decision making, it's argument was largely based on anecdotal evidence of a handful of companies that have adopted analytical approaches.
Good Overview of Business Analytics.......2007-09-20
Technology & the easy with which information spreads has rendered many products and services easily replicable. Companies need to compete on the basis of something their competitors can't recreate. What companies don't have ready access to is each other's data, i.e., on customers, suppliers, & processes. What companies do with this data is what can set them apart from competitors.
Davenport & Harris describe how data is transformed into competitive advantage by discussing the types of information used in analytics, the stages of becoming a more analytic corporation, and many examples of companies who have applied analytics to successful operations. Problems encountered down the road to becoming more analytical were similar to those described in another recent book on the criticality of enterprise data, Information Revolution by Davis, Miller, & Russell.
This book contains no numeric formulas or specific procedures for using analytics, but it is an excellent as an overall survey of business analytics as used today.
Who Is The Audience.......2007-08-30
This book is meant for those who make things happen and need to gain a fresh perspective. It is not meant for those who know a lot but can't make things happen yet keep looking for more information, while criticizing a good effort, which without doubt could have been better.
Book Description
Well-suited for the non-statistician, this applications-oriented introduction to multivariate analysis focuses on the fundamental concepts that affect the use of specific techniques rather than the mathematical derivation of the technique.
Provides an overview of several techniques and approaches that are available to analysts today — e.g., data warehousing and data mining, neural networks and resampling/bootstrapping. Chapters are organized to provide
a practical, logical progression of the phases of analysis and to
group similar types of techniques applicable to most situations.
Customer Reviews:
Best general Multivariate stats book.......2007-06-07
This is without question THE BEST introduction to Multivariate Statistics book currently available. It is designed for the user of the techniques, not someone who wants to examine the math underlying the techniques. I have created a collection of the various editions of this book and I have all of them going from the 1st edition to the current one. Personally I really likely the 2nd and 3rd editions but the current one is also very good. Whether you are interested in Exploratory Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis, Discriminant Analysis [I think that there should have been more on classification analysis in this section], Logistic regression, multivariate analysis of variance, conjoint analysis, cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, Confirmatory Factor Analysis or Structural Equation Modeling, this book provides a good broad overview as to how to use and interpret the techniques. The key terms for each technique are defined clearly technique by technique. Having taught faculty how to teach multivariate statistics this is the book that I chose to use. It is important to remember that it is BROAD overview and if you are going to do serious analyses that you'd likely want to get additional books about the specific technique or techniques that you are going to use.
Probably the best advanced stats book ever written...GOD bless the authors!.......2007-05-12
Over the course of my undergrad, grad, and post grad, I have read a variety of statistics books. Without a doubt, Hair's Multivariate Data Analysis is THE BEST book of them all. Here is a brief outline of the awesome features of the book:
1. The book itself is very well organized - chapter order and the order within each chapter helps the reader in knowing what is coming next and provides a sense of direction. I think this is a very important feature for any book to have especially when the topics are complex and are discussed over 800 odd pages.
2. The HBAT data set that comes along with the book (or that is provided by the instructor of the course depending on the version of the book you purchase) is really a very good resource. All multivariate techniques in the book can be carried out using this data set. The data set is clearly explained at the end of the first chapter.
3. Tables of examples, the 'Rules of thumb" after each important concept discussion prove invaluable. This is akin to the managerial implication written at the end of lenghty academic articles. This is almost like saying - Here is the deal folks.....Much precise than the summary section, in bullet points, these rules of thumb acts as quick referece that captures the content of the discussion.
4. From chapter 4 onwards till the very end of the book, each chapter is divided into two halves - the first half is the concept dicsussion - in detail, with examples and in very simple and understandable language. The second half is the illustration of the discussed concept through a very elaborate example using the HBAT data set. This arrangement not only helps the reader in better understanding the complex concepts, but also allows the reader to get their hands dirty by actually working out.
5. Keywords at the begining of each chapter provides a list of all the 'jargon' that would be used in that chapter. This list provides a detail definition of each term. Many times while reading the chapter, you would come across a confusing term and in those times the keyword list can prove invaluable.
All in all, this is an invaluable book. If you are a taking stats and you have not read this book, you are missing something. In spite of all the above great things, the best feature of this book is the writing style. I have not come across a book that explains concepts is such easy to understand language but at the same time not over simplifying the subject matter.
My advanced stats became enjoyable because of this book. Really may GOD bless these authors for writing this book!!
Sure it's good, and a good price by the pund too!.......2005-10-26
A pretty good overview and a lot of in-depth material on Multivariate data analysis. Not quite a bed time read though.
I recommend this book as part of your analytical library.
If you liked this book, another good book on multivariate data analysis you may want to check out as well is Sharma, S.; Applied Multivariate Techniques, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.
If you want something easier to read/more practical, and you prefer SPSS over SAS you may want to check out either `Discovering Statistics using SPSS for Windows' by Andy Field, or probably even better/simpler `SPSS Survival Manual' by Pallant.
Tom Anderson
Anderson Analytics, LLC
(...)
Good for a second stats course & reference.......2005-08-03
We used this book for our Stats 2 course in grad school, and although our professor was good enough to eclipse Hair, et al. (he had written his own Stats text), I am most pleased at how much mileage I have drawn from Hair, et al. in the years since I took the course. In my subsequent career, reviewers have often sent me back to Hair, et al. when they have questions about something I'm doing with a data analysis, so it has become an invaluable reference for that reason alone.
The chapters on structural equation modeling, MANOVA, and factor analysis are particularly useful and well-written. I recommend this book without reservations for graduate students and others who work with advanced statistics as part of their daily work.
simple but great!!.......2005-06-02
I used this book as a reference on the topics while I was working on a research project at the university. Because the book does not use complex mathematics to explain the multivariate statistics, it is easy for social sciences students to understand. Each chapter starts with an overview, step-by step procedures and ends with an example from the data set that is used throughout the book.
In addition to the common topics in multivariate, the book also includes the new analysis techniques as CHAID, neural network, and data mining.
Book Description
Used by hundreds of thousands of students since its first edition, INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS continues to blend the best of its proven coverage with new innovations. While retaining the straightforward presentation and traditional outline for descriptive and inferential statistics, the Twelfth Edition incorporates exciting new learning aids like MyPersonal Trainer, MyApplet, and MyTip to ensure that students learn and understand the relevance of the material. The book takes advantage of modern technology, including computational software and interactive visual tools, to facilitate statistical reasoning as well as the understanding and interpretation of statistical results. In addition to showing how to apply statistical procedures, the authors explain how to meaningfully describe real sets of data, what the statistical tests mean in terms of their practical applications, how to evaluate the validity of the assumptions behind statistical tests, and what to do when statistical assumptions have been violated. This new edition retains the statistical integrity, examples, exercises and exposition that have made it a market leader, and builds upon this tradition of excellence with new technology integration.
Customer Reviews:
Unfortunately Book Required By Professor!.......2007-09-09
I purchased textbook because it was required by my Biostatistics professor in my graduate program. Personally, I do not like the book. It makes problems more complicated than they need to be. I feel a good textbook is one in which you can read on your own and basically understand it without a whole lot of instruction and review by your professor. It would be very difficult to just read this textbook and then take an exam. I have only had the book for several weeks and I think it makes Biostats more complicated. I did purchase the supplement that goes with it, which is good for practice and the CD allows you to take self-test. If you are not savvy in stats, purchasing the supplemental practice book may be the thing for you to do if your professor requires use of the textbook.
Poorly written freshman level probability and statistics book.......2007-07-19
First, I cant believe that people actually used this book in a graduate class. I taught out of this book to freshmen.
A lot of the notation in this book is horrible and I feel this makes it harder for people new to the subject to read. Also there are very few exercises for the students to practice. In addition, too many of the answers in the back of the book are incorrect (this really confuses students).
I will not be teaching out of this book again.
Very poorly written........2004-03-15
I had to buy this book for an introductory graduate stats class. This book assumes you have some knowledge of stats and so provides very brief explanations for most concepts. This is a big problem for students with little or no stats background.
Another problem is that there are too few examples. Considering their meager explanations, one would hope they would at least provide enough examples to help students understand the concepts. But they usually provide only one or two problems, which are woefully inadequate.
Also, the CD is totally useless. Most of the practice is multiple choice, which I think is pretty silly for a stats class. In addition, there is no explanation for how they got to the answer, so if you can't figure it out and choose the wrong answer, you're out of luck for any explanation.
I stopped using this book for my course and instead began using Elementary Statistics, A Step by Step Approach by Bluman. This book is excellent; it explains everything from step 1. There are also many, many examples and lots of pictures to help you further understand stats. Also, they explain very clearly when you should use the different formulas, which I found extremely helpful in bringing all the concepts together.
Disappointing.......2004-01-16
The text we used for our undergrad Stats class covered the exact same material as this text, which we used for a graduate level class and which cost about 60 bucks more, but the undergrad text was written more clearly, concisely and logically. We even found a mistake in one of the tables in the back of this book.
An "easy" introduction but lacks content.......2003-09-18
Author: Computer Science/Mathematics Undergraduate at Cameron University
This book was required for an introductory non-calculus based statistics course at my school and it turned out to be a mixed bag. The theories are explained well in most cases but the book doesn't have enough examples for all of the theorems. Many times only one case is explained in dynamic situations leaving this reader more than a little lost. Usually the theorems are explained well enough that this is not a big deal, but not so in every case. So there tends to be those points where the student may get a little stuck without assistance from their professor.
Another problem I found was that the book was a little bit dumbed down in many areas. This book uses no calculus, so the theories are presented often without the mathematical rigor required to properly formulate accurate results. The book still presents the theorems and formulas in a way where the student can get something out of this without calculus, but it becomes a problem later in the book in the sections on regression. For a non-calculus based class like the one I took, this is all unavoidable, so the book handled the situation well considering the constraints.
This book presents a very light introduction to statistics and is good prep for more advanced statistics courses, but as a stand-alone only the most basic material is presented since it is non-calculus based and the material is spread thin between combinatorics, probability, binomial distributions, normal distributions, t distributions, ANOVA tests, regression, non-parametric statistics, etc... To attain a significant amount of useful knowledge you really need to buy separate books tackling each of these subjects independantly, so this book is really unneccessary even for an introductory text but might serve well the student who needs to be eased into statistics lightly or just wants a brief overview of the subject.
Book Description
Get the Statistics Book That's Sweeping the Nation!
Appropriate for All Levels--Undergraduate to Doctorate Programs in Every Discipline!
This new edition of Field's bestselling textbook provides students of statistical methods with everything they need to understand, use and report statistics - at every level. Written in Andy Field's vivid and entertaining style, and furnished with playful examples from everyday student life (among other places), the book forms an accessible gateway into the often intimidating world of statistics and a unique opportunity for students to ground their knowledge of statistics through the use of SPSS. The text is fully compliant with the latest release of SPSS (version 13).
Key updates in
Second Edition:
- More coverage with completely new material on non-parametric statistics, loglinear analysis, effect sizes and how to report statistical analysis
- Even more student-friendly features, including a glossary of key statistical terms and exercises at the end of chapters for students to work through, with datasets and answers to chapter exercises on the accompanying CD-ROM
- A larger and more easy-to-reference format: notation in each section identifies the intended level of study while the new 2-color text design enhances the features in the book and, together with the larger format, provides extra clarity throughout
- A companion website is available at
www.sagepub.co.uk/field, containing resources for both students and instructors: a testbank of MCQs for students to test their own knowledge; online glossary in flash card format; multiple choice questions and answers to use for class assessment – available on restricted access basis to instructors via entry password; and PowerPoint Slides of all formatted artwork in the textbook for instructors to include in their own lecture slides.
Andy Field is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Sussex, U.K. where his success in making statistics accessible was recognized with a teaching award in 2001.
"The Second Edition of Andy Field's
Discovering Statistics Using SPSS is an excellent book and a valuable addition to the teaching of statistics in the behavioral sciences. The title of the book accurately reflects the approach taken. This is not simply a primer on how to use SPSS, but is a very good statistics text using SPSS as a vehicle for illustrating and expanding on the statistical content of the book. At the same time it also serves as a manual for SPSS, and has taught me things that I had not known about the software. I find this flexible approach to the blending of content and software to be an effective way of teaching the material. It is impossible to review this book without commenting on Andy's particular style. I enjoyed it immensely and think that it would appeal to both students and their instructors. It is refreshing to see someone who doesn't take himself too seriously."
-- David C Howell, Professor Emeritus,
University of Vermont
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic book!.......2007-09-30
I could not have lived through my dissertation without this book. It finally helped me to conceptually understand statistics.
Also,(many of) his jokes are belly-busting funny. I used one humorous musing in my oral defense about Fisher's alpha levels:"I wonder how different my career would be if Fisher had woken up that day in 90% type of mood."
Stats and Andy Field.......2007-08-19
Andy's book is an excellent aid in learning statistics. If you want the executive summary (aka cliff notes), Andy provides sections where you can get a quick overview of a specific test. If you want the details, Andy provides those also in his book.
I used his book to help me in my doctoral quest, when I was in my second statistics class as a supplemental text. However, it is of a quality that any person seeking to learn more about stats will come away with knowledge of how stats can help us know more about the world in which we live.
Easy Read and Comprehensive too.......2007-08-04
In my job, I often train others how to use SPSS. This book comes up in conversation a lot. It is outstanding. I have come to the conclusion that if a serious user of SPSS's statistical features is to get only one reference; this is it. Something I have noticed is that when I meet someone that has spent time with the book, the are invariably quite good at SPSS. Even if they may not have mastered all the techniques in this large book, they know their stuff.
The Pallant book SPSS Survival Manual, which I have also reviewed, is designed to help survive a first course (and presumably last) in basic statistics. The Field book, however, could be revisited again and again, each time reaching a deeper understanding.
I already know the statistics in this book well, so I can't claim that this book has taught me the basics, but it simultaneously covers all the major topics of interest while keeping it as simple as possible. I wish I had existed earlier in my career. The main advantage to users of SPSS is that all of the examples are SPSS examples. However, make no mistake, this is a serious introduction to statistics, not merely a point and click guide. It is not current with version 15.0, but I don't think this is a major strike against it, given the excellent review of theory. If, however, you really need to keep up on the current features like I do, you will want to consider books in addition this one. Consider one or more of the three Norusis books depending on your level and needs.
Outstanding Source for SPSS.......2007-07-15
This is one of the best statistics and SPSS guidebooks that I have seen. I believe that it can be very useful for novice to expert. It is both technical and conceptual and can function as a textbook for statistics as well as an operational handbook for navigating through SPSS. Although it is based on SPSS 13.0, I have found it to be quite applicable to the SPSS version 15.0 that I am using. This book is an invaluable source for the completion of my doctoral dissertation and I would highly recommend it for the student or advanced statistician! B. Cliff, PhD Candidate, Western Michigan University
Better than any graduate level statistics course I have taken.......2007-06-14
I am a 4th year PhD student and wish I had discovered this book earlier. It is far better than any of the graduate level statistics course I have taken, and definitely better than any of the textbooks I have seen. In fact, I have thrown out all my other statistics textbooks - this is the only one I need. Aside from explaining the theory in an easy to understand way, Andy Field provides the practical aspect that no other texts or courses do (or, if they do, they fail to link it to the theory). Field shows you how to use SPSS to implement the theory in an easy, step by step way; he even tells you how to report the results in APA format. Don't waste your money on any other statistics textbooks!
Book Description
Addison-Wesley is proud to celebrate the Tenth Edition of Elementary Statistics. This text is highly regarded because of its engaging and understandable introduction to statistics. The author's commitment to providing student-friendly guidance through the material and giving students opportunities to apply their newly learned skills in a real-world context has made Elementary Statistics the #1 best-seller in the market.
Customer Reviews:
Elementary statistics-not.......2007-08-28
This book was for a elementary statistics class. This book to me was not easy to use. The examples where very hard to follow and didn't make sense most of the time. The book was used for a online stats class thank god my professor provided great notes and examples, cause if I had to just depend on this books examples I would have made a BIG FAT "F". The author should think about making this book more user friendly.
Trash -- utter trash........2007-04-16
I am saddened to see the textbook community to mistake color, flash, graphics, and artifical examples as quality textbook. Although I understand they need to market, this book demonstrates the effect of marketing upon education.
My students complain that the text is difficult to read. Although I know they are new, I have to agree with their opinion. I sat and read the text -- and found it lacking respectable composition and clarity. I feel for my students and will not use the text again.
In addition, the examples are useless. They match the homework at the end of the chapter, but only "teach to the test". What's the point if the student don't learn methods on how to critically think and approach problems? Oh wow, they know what P(Z>1) is, but what do they know to do with it? Nothing!
Perhaps it is time for the educational community to produce their own compact books, customized to what students (and not publishers) need. I cannot recommend this book for anyone and would beg you to reconsider.
Does the trick.......2007-03-21
I think it's a well written book and it simplifies concepts well enough so that you can understand them better.
Elementary Statistics .......2007-02-22
This was the worst book I have ever come across. The only thing this "book" had was definitions in it. Definitions are fine for other subject, but not for a math subject where formulas are important. I am also disappointed at the fact that this was not a text, but a "study guide" for the text. perhaps this would be useful for someone who was going to take a CLEP test or something.
Really good book for a basic course!.......2007-01-03
I purchased this book for a basic statistic course. It's easy to understand and the best way to get an idea of statistic without long formulas or derivations. Recommandable for basic and intermediate stat-classes!
Book Description
This brief version of Gravetter and Wallnau's proven best-seller offers the straightforward instruction, accuracy, built-in learning aids, and wealth of real-world examples that professors AND students have come to appreciate. The authors take time to explain statistical procedures so that students can go beyond memorizing formulas and gain a conceptual understanding of statistics. By integrating applications to ensure that even students with a weak background in mathematics can understand statistics, the authors skillfully demonstrate that having an understanding of statistical procedures help them comprehend published findings, and become savvy consumers of information. Known for its exceptional accuracy and examples, this text also has a complete supplements package to support instructors with class preparation and testing.
Customer Reviews:
Didn't find it helpful.......2007-09-02
I didn't find this a helpful assistance to the text. It didn't give any explanations to the formulas or shortcuts that I expected. It was more like a dictionary for the text book (words and definitions).
Great for people who ask "but why..." at the end of every statement. .......2006-05-10
This book is absolutely excellent. I have looked through other stats books and lost interest immediately, but this book is written in such a way that it actually makes you want to learn the material. Rather than just telling you how to solve the problem, the authors inform you as to why learning it is necessary, and frequently give you real-life, interesting scenarios regarding how specific formulas are used by psychologists.
Statistics, of course, becomes progressively more difficult over time, and you may need to seek outside help once you reach the last few chapters in particular. However, I believe that this book is the best of its kind, and it might be worth purchasing even if it is not your primary source for class, etc.
Good moral support.......2006-03-23
My first impression was that this book was priceless since it really helped me through the first couple of chapters in the main text. At the beginning it goes into lengthy, step-by-step instructions. I may not have felt as confident in the class if it had not been for this supplement. Once I reached chapter 6 and 7 it was all over!There was not enough information to help me understand what the book was losing me on, I needed to seek private tutoring at this point. Occasionally I still go to the book in the hopes that it can pick me up and get me through the homework but it does not. These later chapters may be too complicated to go into in a study guide but what would a study guide be for if not walking you through the steps? I am glad I bought it, just dissappointed that it quit so early.
Fantastic Statistics Resource.......2005-09-22
This is the very best statistics book that I have purchased (and I have purchased 5 others trying to help me get a grasp on this subject)! I would recommend it to anyone who needs an easy--to-read and easy-to-understand textbook on this difficult subject! I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me!
Wow! Clear, Concise, Excellent Book.......2005-05-19
Having seriously struggled for the last two years with the statistics side of my Psychology studies, this book has really made things so much clearer. An excellent book for anyone struggling to grasp the basic statistical concepts required in behavioral sciences.
Book Description
As the SAS© programming language continues to evolve, this guide follows suit with timely coverage of the combination statistical package, database management system, and high-level programming language. Using current examples from business, medicine, education, and psychology, Applied Statistics and the SAS Programming Language is an invaluable resource for applied researchers, giving them the capacity to perform statistical analyses with SAS without wading through pages of technical documentation.
Includes the necessary SAS statements to run programs for most of the commonly used statistics, explanations of the computer output, interpretations of results, and examples of how to construct tables and write up results for reports and journal articles. Illustrated with SAS Graph⢠output. Provides readers with ample models for developing programming skills.
For anyone interested in learning more about applied statistics and the SAS programming language.
Customer Reviews:
Poor book.......2007-03-20
I hoped more. It is a very basic book, with elemental examples and no clear directions on the best use of SAS.
Great for real life applications.......2007-01-01
Great book.. It is a great asset to my SAS library.
Too much unecessary detail about reading in data.......2006-11-10
Theres just too much unecessary material in this book about ways to read in data etc. Its all unecessary cos like myself most professional analysts and statisticians have access to SAS enterprise guide, which is incredibly powerful and so much less time consuming. The programming language is only useful for algorithms these days, as most professionals havent got the time to be debugging code all day. The text covers nothing about cluster analysis either which is central to a lot of multi variate analysis.
The mathematics and statistical detail is of far more interest and importance to us in the working environment than reading in of files.
Poor value.......2006-10-14
The book can be helpful to college students, but is of little benefit to more seasoned statisticians. The title notwithstanding, most of its chapters deal with general-purpose SAS programming; the rest (totaling 100-150 pages) offer a very basic review of REG, TTEST, LOGISTIC and FACTOR procedures, something that you can easily find online. (Check out the SAS tutorials offered by UCLA). I like and recommend Ron Cody's other books, but not this overpriced softcover.
Blergh.......2006-09-13
I did not like this book. The organization was abysmal, and I decided to sell it back to the college bookstore for use by future hapless students, because it is not good as a reference guide.
I did not like how the author seemed to gear the book to an audience that is terrified of their computers or anything dealing with *gasp* math.
Customer Reviews:
It 's the only reason I passed Elementary Statistics.......2006-02-22
I had to teach myself statistics the first time around and this book deserves sole credit for my passing grade. Furthermore, I was able to use this book to teach my classmates and everyone passed the course, a first with that professor. I used the book as tutor at more than one school, as well. Highly recommended!
Great book for begining stats!.......2005-12-26
This text is very well written with detailed information broken down enough for anyone to understand, begining with explaining basic concepts, discussing how statistics can be used in specific simple scenarios. As you progress in the text, Triola utilizes the same scenarios by adding on to the complexity that is involved as you learn more. The sections within each chapter is broken down to explain major concepts without confusing the reader as you progress from chapter to chapter. As expected, definitions, theories, and helpful hints and good examples throughout the text enhance and reinforce the learning experience. Triola also incorporates a technology section at the end of the chaters, enabling you to use Excel or the TI-83 Plus to calculate a formula that would otherwise take you 20-30 minutes to do by hand.
I used this book for an online course, and with that online course, the publishers had developed the quizes, calculator exercises, and tests that go along with this curriculum. The reason why I hadn't given this text 5 stars is because of the errors that I have found throughout the text....I guess the good part is, the text taught me enough to correct their own mistakes.
Book Is Great!!.......2005-09-18
This book came fast and in awesome condition. It has helped a lot with class and I'm glad that I bought this item!
Elementary Statistics.......2005-08-27
Elementary Statistics with StatDisk is a very well laid out text making the introduction to new concepts easy. The text assists with Excel, TI-83 family of caluculators and gives comprehensive tips for using StatDisk. Z tables are included with the text on heavy paper stock.
Good start in STATS.......2005-08-27
I used the 8th edition in my intro STATS class a year ago and I loved the book. I found that he talks about the meaning of stuff and not just gives quick excel fixes like a lot of intro STAT books. He does go over how to do the problem on the TI-83 but he still goes over the formulas and how you can do with out. In my last intro stats book my department had it talked too much about excel and the calculator making students forget that this is math and not just plug in the number
Book Description
In their own classrooms, through their popular texts, and in the conferences they lead, Bob Johnson and Pat Kuby have inspired hundreds of thousands of students to see statistics and all its usefulness. This new ADVANTAGE SERIES version of Robert Johnson and Patricia Kuby's ELEMENTARY STATISTICS, 9th Edition represents the 30th anniversary of their flagship title. This comprehensive text translates the language of statistics into approachable everyday terminology through its clear exposition, real-world examples, and interesting, applicable case studies. The authors promote the learning of statistics in a context that relates to personal experience. The flexibility of technology coverage (MINITAB, Excel, and TI-83 output and instructions throughout), the wealth of instructor supplements, and the expanded opportunities for online enrichment make this the easiest text for students to learn from and for teachers to teach from. As part of the ADVANTAGE SERIES, this new version will offer all the quality content you've come to expect from Johnson and Kuby sold to your students at a significantly lower price.
Customer Reviews:
A Disorganized and Confusing Textbook........2005-09-01
Explanations of concepts are constantly interrupted mid-paragraph by various secondary explanations, questions and diagrams that do not tie in well with the central concept that was being explained. I find it very difficult to follow when each page is scattered with little side projects for the student to try with the cd-rom or with a calculator. Just glancing at any page it is hard to find the heart of the material. I much prefer a text that focuses on straight forward explanations of concepts rather than what seems to me as mere gimmicks.
Solid, but not spectacular textbook.......2005-01-06
I was assigned this book for use in teaching an introductory statistics course. The CD is quite good, containing a PowerPoint presentation outline for each chapter. It also has a section of excellent examples, but it only goes through the first three chapters, which is unfortunate.
Each chapter begins with a "Chapter Case Study", which I found to be worthless. The text and examples in each section & chapter are pretty good, about what would be expected from a textbook. What is different is the "Technology Instructions" inserted throughout, for doing stats with Minitab, Excel XP, and the TI-83 Plus calculator (which my school requires). It's needed, because the TI-83 manual is not very good.
Where the book could be better, for my class, is in describing how a student can verify his/her own work. Too many times students make a small mistake early in a problem, which leads to a non-sensical answer -- if the student stops to evaluate the meaning of it (for example, a probability greater than 1). Particularly in hypothesis testing, students frequently build the null and alternative hypotheses backwards, and then end up with a conclusion statement that clearly contradicts the data. While this book is very clear about a five-step approach to *doing* the test, it should have included a sixth step -- verifying that your answer makes sense!
Also, some of the problems and examples have errors, as well as vaguely worded questions. This seems to be (unfortunately) typical of all textbooks -- or maybe I'm just jaded.
Overall, it's a pretty decent book for a lower-level college statistics course. I would have given it 3.5 stars on its own. The CD is worth the extra half-star. If the CD examples went beyond chapter 3 through the whole book it would get five.
Average customer rating:
- professors choice
- Formats are very difficult to read
- A good book
- Respectable
- misled into thinking there were sample tests in the book
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Statistical Inference
George Casella
Manufacturer: Duxbury Press
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ASIN: 0534243126 |
Book Description
This book builds theoretical statistics from the first principles of probability theory. Starting from the basics of probability, the authors develop the theory of statistical inference using techniques, definitions, and concepts that are statistical and are natural extensions and consequences of previous concepts. This book can be used for readers who have a solid mathematics background. It can also be used in a way that stresses the more practical uses of statistical theory, being more concerned with understanding basic statistical concepts and deriving reasonable statistical procedures for a variety of situations, and less concerned with formal optimality investigations.
Customer Reviews:
professors choice.......2007-10-16
This is the second edition of an excellent book. Gasella and Berger put together a text that many faculty began choosing for the first graduate ciurse in mathematical statistics. This second edition is improved over the first and puts more emphasis on the algorithms than the asymptotics. It covers modern topics like resampling and is verywell presented.
When I was a graduate dtudent we used Ferguson and Cox and Hinkley and we also used Lehmann's book for hypothesis testing. This book starts with basic probability and goes on to cover all the bases. It has everything one needs in a modern text on mathematical statistics. I have seen it referenced very often in statistics articles that I had to get a copy for myself in spite of the high price.
Formats are very difficult to read.......2007-09-28
I find this book very difficult to read. There are no set margins, and the font set is the same for an example, definition or for a Theory. Trying to find what you are looking for is very time consuming. additionally, the examples are predominantly proofs (which are good), but there are few for applied problems, and the explanations are not very thourough. I would recommend Sheldon Ross Introduction to Probability since it covers the same material, is readable with formatting, and has numerous examples. For an even simpler book to understand, choose Ross, Probability a First Course.
A good book.......2007-07-23
I studies parts of this book years ago, during my grad school days. I found it clear, interesting and well organized. Some reviewers have complained of the low weight given to Bayesian statistics. This is true, this textbook is mostly for folks who want to learn about a frequentist approach. With this caveat, I think it's a very nice introduction to statistics for someone like me who uses statistics within the boundaries of basic applied econometrics. There are typos, but I believe you can find an errata online, which you should be able to locate easily with a google search.
Respectable.......2007-07-10
Second year Ph.D. student at Iowa State University.
Covers soft non-measure-theoretic probability theory and statistical theory.
Not extremely rigorous. Appropriate for undergraduates and first-year Master's students. Not appropriate for Ph.D. level courses.
I fear that I may be reiterating what the other reviewers have already said, but I'll put in my two cents anyway. I used Hogg/McKean/Craig's "classic" "Introduction to Mathematical Statistics" for my undergraduate theory class and this one for my Master's level class. I must say that this one was a little bit clearer but omits important topics more often. It's a decent text, but it has its flaws.
First off, I'll talk about the exercises. There is a good amount of variety in problem difficulty ranging from hilariously trivial to taxing, but never too taxing. If you are teaching this class to a mixture of undergraduates and entry-level graduates, you shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with a sizeable list of problems appropriate for one group or the other. However, it will take some work to determine which problems are the difficult ones. Some of the problems that look the easiest are the hardest, which is fine, but they are not arranged or noted in any way so that you can tell which are the hard ones. The trivial ones always come first, but then the exercises jump back and forth between medium difficulty problems and hard problems. Also, I sometimes questioned the problem quality. The problems help the student master the skills, but they don't always come off as relevant in any other way. It's nice when a theory text provides just that--theory, but then let's students see the applications of the theory in the problem set. There is some of this, especially in the early sections on combinatorics (though they were rather contrived), but there should have been more. Another concern that I had is not the book's fault. Since this is a rather popular text, solutions to over half of the problems can be found online. This makes it difficult for the instructor to curb cheating. However, it could be seen as a good thing in one sense, since students like myself often work on non-assigned problems and it's nice to have the solutions readily available.
As far as examples and explanations of theories go, the book is a mixed bag. It seems to do well in the early chapters (probability theory), but it doesn't take extra care in the later, more difficult chapters. I had the hardest time with the Hypothesis Testing chapter. The examples for some of the concepts seemed too slim (usually one per theorem) and the ones presented didn't do a very good job at facilitating understanding. This continued to be a problem in much of the latter half of the book. As far as the proofs go, they are not poorly written, but they often emphasis algebra and formulae over understanding.
Regarding content, the book is a little bit too narrow in its focus. Bayesian statistics is touched on, but it is essentially a text on the theory behind classical statistics. I am of the opinion that classical statistics should be given more weight in an introductory theory class, but I also think that Bayesian statistics deserves more attention than it receives here. Also, it would have been nice to see more information on topics such as non-parametric statistics (virtually absent) and incomplete data. Additionally, it covered quite a bit about general hypothesis testing, but it didn't cover very many commonly used tests. I think that coverage of these tests is important in such a class so that students can see why these tests are used and to know just how important the assumptions behind the tests are. Another omission was that of real world applications (though they aren't entirely absent). I know it's a theory book, but that doesn't mean that applications should be avoided to this degree. Although I wasn't happy about all of these omissions, I can say that what was covered was organized fairly well. Overall, the topics were presented in a logical progression.
One final note: typos and errors. They aren't abundant, but there were more than I would have liked to have seen. There's about as many as most texts on this topic, so it's not a game-breaker.
misled into thinking there were sample tests in the book.......2007-05-13
I thought there were sample tests in the booklet (85 pages). Not true.
One needs to pay more to get the tests.
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