Statistics For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyle))

Better than described. Very informative and helpful. Packaged well and delivered ahead of time....fantastic seller.

I work in research and evaluation and last year I transitioned into a much more stats heavy project. While I had taken quite a few stats classes in grad school, it had been a few years since I’d used those skills and I needed to really dive back into my old textbooks and notes. But I also purchased these books (I and II) as a memory refresher. What I really appreciate about the books are the simple language and examples to describe the basic theories around statistical tests and assumptions. This gives me the frame of reference I need without diving into all of the mathematical reasoning and overly technical explanations in my textbooks. Also, it covers a very wide range of tests - more tests than I learned in my stats classes - and gives me the foundation to go and learn more about these tests and how to use them in my stats software. So even though I’m not using these books to help me through current course work, I still find them incredibly useful. Also, I kinda sheepishly showed them to a colleague who has been doing this work much longer than I have - they immediately went out and purchased them too.

First, this book should receive a 4.5 rating, but that is not an option. I don't think a stats book could get a higher rating. A 5 woule mean the book is perfect, which is highly improbable for any math/stats book. That said, this book is the most nearly perfect stats book I've come across. So...Great intro book! I took a graduate level stats class, in which over half (I'd say 75% ) of the students were lost. I always believed that a good teacher could teach the most complex subjects in plain English. This is what Deborah Rumsey essentially does. Finally! Many of the concepts are so clear it's mind boggling--and her wit and humor will have you rolling off your chair (or sometimes, rolling your eyes--but that, too, is funny. Here's a caveat regarding my review. I did have that graduate level stats class, most of which was incomprehensible; however, that did give me some background information in understanding some of the concepts. So, I'm not sure how someone would do coming into stats without know any background knowledge. That said, as others have pointed out, you can use AI (ChaptGPT) to help clarify things--and then when you go back to the book, it makes sense. This book is definitely worth it--and to really understand it, go back and take Cornell Notes on the text--that will sharpen your understanding.

good

I am still plowing thru this book to meet my goal to get a comprehensive, conceptual understanding of statistical concepts and related math, not an ability to "do" statistics in the mathematical sense. The beginning sections were easy to understand and I was eager to keep going. Unfortunately, the author's text and graphs for the (much more complicated) topics presented in Section 3, Distributions and the Central Limit Theorem, were not up to her earlier clear style. I had to resort to internet research in order to understand the mathematical concept, and notation, for combination possibilities. Then, I was lucky to land on a very good site for a clear description explaining "sampling" vs "taking samples". In some of the author's text, I could not tell which she was talking about. By far, my biggest gripe is omission of an explicit Y-axis in graphs. For most there is no Y-axis. For one, the Y-axis is "density", a term not in the index. Based on what I learned from the internet, the density technique of graphing is important enough to merit explanation. Without understanding the Y-axis of a graph, it is impossible to form a sentence "for this x we can state this y". Overall, I am pleased with this book, and will finish it but at a much slower rate due to much re-reading over and over, and then ultimately giving up to go to the internet. I admit that the later sections are an intellectual stretch for me.

I have been struggling in my statistics class hand it is the last class that I have to pass before graduation. Yes, I am a statistics dummy, so I ordered this book! It has been a valuable resource in helping to make some of the concepts make sense to me! I would recommend to anyone struggling with Statistics!

I bought this book to support my lectures in a course on modeling and simulation. Although it wasn't written for engineers or mathematicians, it works well for an introductory course as long as it provides examples and explanations that work very well for understanding not so direct or convoluted concepts like confidence intervals, hypothesis test or the relationship between z distribution and student's t. Deborah Rumsey, the author, explains every topic with deep insight and in a good mood --which is the distinctive Dummies' seal. She's not only clear to explain: she wants to be understood, and that is something that any reader should thank. Recommended to whoever is interested in teaching, in remembering or in exploring what statistics are for and why they're so important.

This book was exactly what I was looking for in a "Dummies" book. It covered the basics well and was easy to follow and understand. I really like how the author goes step by step over each procedure. The sequence of the book was well thought out and made sense to me. I liked the author's sense of humor. One thing that would have gotten that last star from me is a little bit more explanation on why the the various parts of a formula are what they are. Deborah does a very good job of explaining why it makes sense to use the t statistic over the z statistic; but I would have liked to have heard more on the reasoning behind calculating the standard error for the various situations. Nevertheless I highly recommend the book