Statistics in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)) [Paperback]

Sarah Boslaugh (Author), Dr. Paul Andrew Watters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008 | Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)

Need to learn statistics as part of your job, or want some help passing a statistics course? Statistics in a Nutshell is a clear and concise introduction and reference that's perfect for anyone with no previous background in the subject. This book gives you a solid understanding of statistics without being too simple, yet without the numbing complexity of most college texts.

You get a firm grasp of the fundamentals and a hands-on understanding of how to apply them before moving on to the more advanced material that follows. Each chapter presents you with easy-to-follow descriptions illustrated by graphics, formulas, and plenty of solved examples. Before you know it, you'll learn to apply statistical reasoning and statistical techniques, from basic concepts of probability and hypothesis testing to multivariate analysis.

Organized into four distinct sections, Statistics in a Nutshell offers you:

Introductory material:
• Different ways to think about statistics
• Basic concepts of measurement and probability theory


• Data management for statistical analysis
• Research design and experimental design
• How to critique statistics presented by others


Basic inferential statistics:
• Basic concepts of inferential statistics
• The concept of correlation, when it is and is not an appropriate measure of association
• Dichotomous and categorical data
• The distinction between parametric and nonparametric statistics


Advanced inferential techniques:
• The General Linear Model
• Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and MANOVA
• Multiple linear regression


Specialized techniques:
• Business and quality improvement statistics
• Medical and public health statistics
• Educational and psychological statistics

Unlike many introductory books on the subject, Statistics in a Nutshell doesn't omit important material in an effort to dumb it down. And this book is far more practical than most college texts, which tend to over-emphasize calculation without teaching you when and how to apply different statistical tests.

With Statistics in a Nutshell, you learn how to perform most common statistical analyses, and understand statistical techniques presented in research articles. If you need to know how to use a wide range of statistical techniques without getting in over your head, this is the book you want.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sarah Boslaugh holds a PhD in Research and Evaluation from the City University of New York and have been working as a statistical analyst for 15 years, in a variety of professional settings, including the New York City Board of Education, the Institutional Research Office of the City University of New York, Montefiore Medical Center, the Virginia Department of Social Services, Magellan Health Services, Washington University School of Medicine, and BJC HealthCare. She has taught statistics in several different contexts and currently teaches Intermediate Statistics at Washington University Medical School. She has published two previous books: An Intermediate Guide to SPSS Programming: Using Syntax for Data Management (SAGE Publications, 2004) and Secondary Data Sources for Public Health (forthcoming from Cambridge U. Press, 2007) and am currently editing the Encyclopedia of Epidemiology for SAGE Publications (forthcoming, 2007).

Paul A. Watters PhD CITP, is Associate Professor in the School of Information and Mathematical Sciences and Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimization (CIAO) at the University of Ballarat. Until recently, he was Head of Data Services at the Medical Research Council's National Survey of Health and Development, which is the oldest of the British birth cohort studies, and an honorary senior research fellow at University College London. He uses multivariate statistics to develop orthogonal and non-orthogonal methods for feature extraction in pattern recognition, especially in biometric applications.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596510497
• ISBN-13: 978-0596510497
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Research

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Wait for the second edition. March 3, 2009

By Bruce Forte

Format:Paperback

On the one hand I like the book because of its scope and the overall presentation. What I find disturbing is the high amount of errors in all kinds of content (typos, formular errors, table errors, false figures, and so on). Also not great is that the solutions to the problems are given right after the problem itself so it is really hard not to look at the solution before starting to work on the problem. Somebody corrects all those errors and this is a great book on statistics. Right now the errata page at the publisher's web site is just too long.

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy January 26, 2009

By Michael J. Murphy

Format:Paperback

This book is a reasonably well written introduction to a variety of useful statistical concepts. It is far more readable than the average stats textbook. However, there clearly was some sort of failure in the copy editing process. This book is riddled with small, niggling errors which taken individually aren't so bad, but as a group are very annoying. These errors are not just typos; figures are mislabeled and referenced, the worked through examples contain mathematical errors (including miscalculation of means, etc.), and at least one formula is simply incorrect! These annoying quirks keep this book from being the clear concise text it could be, and no book can be a "Quick Reference" if you can't be sure that what you are looking up is correct! That said, if you take the time as a reader to work through the examples and make sure that the each formula makes mathematical sense, you can get something out of this book.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Most Errors Have Been Corrected. June 19, 2009

By Tom Vyse

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I recently received this book and immediately went to the O'Reilly errata [...]There was an extensive list, but after going through it I found that about 80% of the errors noted on it had already been corrected despite the fact that the book I received is still marked "First Edition".

I have yet to read the book, so please take my 4 star rating with a grain of salt, but I had to include that to publish this review. That being said, the fear of excessive typos and errors should no longer deter you from considering this book.