Customer Reviews

Statistics Workbook For Dummies

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Basic statistics is a course that I have taught at Mount Mercy College over thirty times. Since it is required for several majors, including business, nursing and psychology, the student population is a varied one. Therefore, I get everyone from seasoned math majors to people who have held off taking a math course until the last possible session. Some of these students really need their hands held in several ways, from extra human interactive help to additional reading material with practice problems. While this book cannot help with the former, it is an excellent solution for the latter.
As the name implies, this is a workbook containing problems in basic statistics. There is very little explanatory text, the bulk of the explanations are in the form of solved problems. The topics covered are:

*) Organizing data into graphs, charts and histograms
*) Measures of the center and the spread of the data
*) The fundamentals of probability
*) The distributions used in statistical analysis
*) Confidence intervals of means, proportions and the differences between two of them
*) Hypothesis testing of means, proportions and the differences between two of them
*) Correlation and regression
*) Summaries containing a review of the mathematics, the top ten statistical formulas and ten ways to spot statistical mistakes

As is always the case with survey books, it is possible to criticize the exclusion of a topic or two. Furthermore, this is not a book that the general beginner population could use to learn statistics. However, if you are searching for something to give you supplemental work in statistics or are looking for something that will give you a quick and effective review, then this book is what you are looking for.

As someone who teaches Statistics to Information Technology professionals I am always looking for new ways of explaining basic Statistical ideas to "newcomers". This book is excellent for those learners who find it easier to learn through examples and practice than just by reading theory. It is true that one would need another book for comprehensive explanations, however this book is one of the best resources available for "hands-on" practice. Although other reviewers have covered the book's contents I would like to focus on Chapter 19, Ten Ways to Spot Common Statistical Mistakes, that covers the following topics:

- Scrutinizing Graphs
- Searching for and Specifying Bias
- Marking the Margin of Error
- Scanning for Sample Size
- Studying Sample Selection (Gotta Be Random)
- Checking for Confounding Variables
- Considering Correlation
- Doing the Math
- Detecting Selective Reporting
- Avoiding the Anecdote

I believe every introductory Statistics book should contain a similar section.
This book is also a great help for those who already know basic Statistics and need a quick, practical review.

This book helped me get ready for my exams. There were tons of problems, with answers all worked out and explained clearly. Plus it gives you a lot of ideas about what your teacher might ask you on an exam. I found this to be very helpful in my stats class.

I am currently using both Statistics for Dummies and Statistics Workbook for Dummies. The books are step-by-step books for people who have no knowledge of statistics and learning the concepts of statistics. I am currently in a statistics online college class at the age of 45+, and I am finally comfortable learning statistics on my own. I am also using Algebra for Dummies; this book is also very good. I would recommend these books to any college student.

I purchased this book in order to help my daughter (who has an unrealistic impression of my math skills)with her university class. It was a way of review for me that I found not only easier than most books on the subject to understand, but cleverly funny as well. A thumbs up for this purchase!

I have been out of school nearly 20 years, and these books bring back all what was locked away, great books for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge. Highly recomend buying the combo's though, Statistics For Dummies and also the workbook combos, its cheeper, and better studying.

I like the fact that the Statistics Workbook for Dummies uses real life examples for their exercises and they explain statistics in simple terms.

This book is great if you want to learn the basics of statistics in an understandable manner. Be aware that your math and Algebra skills already have to be in place though.

Don't let the dummie part fool you. This workbook is not easy or simple. It will give examples of the more complicated problems that you need to learn. However, the descriptions to the solutions are provided in both how to do the problem and how they got their solution so you are not left wondering'how did they do that?'. It has light brown recycled appearance pages and each question is a variation, not the same form of question repeated over and over.

Workbook has offers easily understood exercises to reinforce your understanding of elementary statistics and statistical usage.