Stat Labs: Mathematical Statistics Through Applications [Paperback]

Deborah Nolan (Author), Terry P. Speed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0387989749 | ISBN-13: 978-0387989747

Integrating the theory and practice of statistics through a series of case studies, each lab introduces a problem, provides some scientific background, suggests investigations for the data, and provides a summary of the theory used in each case. Aimed at upper-division students.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: TECHNOMETRICS "This is not your typical mathematical statistics book. ...It turns the traditional teaching of mathematical statistics on its head by making a case study the centerpiece of each chapter. ...This novel approach to bringing data analysis into the theoretical course is ideal for motivating and illustrating standard statistical techniques, for helping students understand mathematical statistics, and for showing how statistics can be useful in a wide variety of situations." ZENTRALBLATT MATH "This is an excellent pioneering book intended and suitable as the main text, or as a supplement to a more theoretical text, for a semester course in amthematical situations." MSOR CONNECTIONS "This is a very good book of its kind, and represents a great deal of useful modern classroom experience." "This book demonstrates that it is possible to cover the essential topics in one semester and make the course effective, as well. … this book is intended for a course in mathematical statistics for third year and fourth year undergraduates … . The book can be used as the main text for a course … . I strongly feel that this book … should be followed in the introductory course in mathematical statistics for the undergraduates." (Somesh Das Gupta, Sankhya, Vol. 64 (1), 2002) "The book by Nolan and Speed turns the traditional teaching of mathematical statistics on its head to several case studies. This novel approach shows how statistics can be useful in a wide variety of contexts. … This is a fun book with less theory. … I enjoyed reading and learning … . I recommend … highly for statisticians and computer scientists who are interested in mastering bioinformatics and related concepts." (Ramalingam Shanmugam, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Vol. 75 (1), 2005) "This book is different. Each chapter presents a scientific problem … . ‘Stat Labs’ is an attempt to introduce to statistical thinking as well as to teach the theory. In the hands of a good instructor this should excellently work. Nolan and Speed intend the book for a course in mathematical statistics for juniors and seniors and have themselves used the material in this way. I would also recommend it … for beginning graduate students." (Wolfgang J. Bühler, Metrika, June, 2005) "Nolan and Speed describe their approach to teaching mathematical statistics through in-depth case studies. … the strengths of the book are its clear statements of scientific problems and their associated background information … . I would recommend it as a practically orientated supplementary course text … . I believe it will be of immense use to teachers and students alike. … Various supplementary material, including the data sets themselves, can be obtained from http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/users/statlabs/." (Paul Northrop, Journal of Applied Statistics, Vol. 28 (6), 2001) "The authors of this text believe that more advanced students in a course in mathematical statistics … will benefit from an applications-oriented course. This is an original and sophisticated book that could stimulate a transformation in the method by which mathematical statistics is taught. … the book is … most suitable as a supplemental text to support the exploration of an extensive set of data bases." (Journal of Mathematical Psychology, May, 2001)

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Springer (May 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387989749
• ISBN-13: 978-0387989747
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting approach to teaching statistics, February 9, 2008

By 

Michael R. Chernick "statman31147" (Holland PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stat Labs: Mathematical Statistics Through Applications (Paperback)

I took my introductory mathematical statistics course from Brad Efron and Charles Stein at Stanford. It gave me a strong foundation and understanding of decision theory, hypothesis testing and the power of exponential families of distributions. Although I understood the Neyman - Pearson theory of hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, I was not completely comfortable applying what I had learn when confronted with real problems. Students even at the best universities in the US still need consulting experience before they are comfortable with the tools they learn.
That is why this book so intrigued me. It approaches the theory and methods from applications first. Each chapter poses an interesting real problem and then progresses to a solution, introducing only the necessary tools. Many important statistical tools and topics are covered this way. It is particularly good for students interested in biostatistics as many of the applications fall in that area. In fact the subject of maternal smoking and infant health is treated in Chapter 1 and revisited in Chapter 10 with additional data to consider.

It is designed for an advanced undergraduate course for statistics majors and has been successfully implemented by the authors at Berkeley. I think this can really work and make mathematical statistics interesting. However, the student should not think that he or she can come out of this class and jump right into consulting. The biggest problem in consulting is working with the client to pose a well formulated problems that address their questions. In this text the authors have already done that long and difficult task for us and we are left in a position to learn the subject matter and the statistical tools needed for the solution.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, July 11, 2011

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L. Jin (davis, ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stat Labs: Mathematical Statistics Through Applications (Paperback)

As a graduate student studying biostatistics, this book is really helpful. Concepts like bootstrap are easily explained through examples. Highly recommended if you have any difficulty understanding statistical concepts through theory alone.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, November 15, 2001

By 

Vito Giurlanda (Stony Brook, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stat Labs: Mathematical Statistics Through Applications (Paperback)

This book is now being used at the university I attend for a Data Analysis Course. The examples provided were used as projects for out class. I learned a lot about real world problems that can be solved and modeled using statistics.

I recommend the software MiniTAB to accompany this book.

I especially liked the chapter on HIV and mortality (very interesting results)!