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36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Trash -- utter trash., April 15, 2007
This review is from: Elementary Statistics (10th Edition) (MyStatLab Series) (Hardcover)
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.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
From a college instructor: avoid this book, July 7, 2009
This review is from: Elementary Statistics (10th Edition) (MyStatLab Series) (Hardcover)
As an instructor who has taught college level Elementary Statistics from this text book 5 times, I would strongly recommend against this book. I spent most of my time working around this textbook, not with it. The students find the phrasing of the homework problems confusing. The objective of many of the homework problems is unclear. The interpretations of the statistical results that the author calls for require conjecture, not true reasoning skills. Additionally, the material is presented in a counterproductive order, the same one which most other elementary statistics texts follow. It isn't a smart way to present the material.
Two of the major problems with the content of this text: First, this text poorly explains the Central Limit Theorem, which is only the most important theorem in statistics. Second, the problems for small sample hypothesis tests of means with sigma unknown are contrived such that students would never learn that a p-value is measured from the 'tail' of the test (and therefore, can be greater than 0.5).
In short, this text is unclear and often unhelpful. Students who finish this class often only understand how to "take the exam" and never learn the concepts. I have had to supplement my class with my own sets of notes to accommodate the problems in this textbook. The text lacks global perspective on the material.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good choice for a text in basic statistics, December 21, 2006
This review is from: Elementary Statistics (10th Edition) (MyStatLab Series) (Hardcover)
I regularly teach a course in basic statistics at the college level. In that capacity, I examined this book for possible adoption as the text for the course. In terms of the breadth of coverage, it is broader than most other texts. There are three chapters:
*) Nonparametric statistics
*) Statistical process control
*) Projects, procedures, perspectives
covering material not normally found in other texts. The depth of the coverage is also a little deeper than in most other texts, as a consequence the book is nearly 900 pages. Explanations of the topics are clear, diagrams are used when needed but not to excess. There are many exercises at the ends of the chapters, with solutions to the odds in an appendix.
The exercises at the end of the chapters are in several forms. They are:
*) Basic skills and concepts
*) Beyond the basics, with the subcategories
*) Review
*) Statistical literacy and critical thinking
*) Review exercises
*) Cumulative review exercises
*) Cooperative group activities
*) Technology project
*) Internet project
Each chapter starts with a basic question, some examples are:
*) Chapter 7 Estimates and sample size. Question: Does touch therapy work?
*) Chapter 8 Hypothesis testing. Question: What is the best way to go about finding a job?
There is also a statistics@work blurb at the end of each chapter. It is a one-page interview of a person who uses statistics in their job.
I was impressed with this book; there is no question in my mind that it would work very well in the statistics class that I teach. However, I am also satisfied with the book that I am using, so I will not be making the switch. While it is better than the book I am using now it is just not that much better to justify the change.
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