Statistics: Concepts and Controversies

Among the concepts presented are: (1) sampling and randomization, (2) why experiment and what designs to use, (3) measurement accuracy, (4) understanding relationships (contingency tables, scatterplots, correlation and regression), (5)index numbers (CPI), (6) the role of government statistics, (7) understanding changes over time, (8) probability, (9) probability through simulation and (10) inference including confidence intervals for means and proportions. The text includes many useful exercises which enhance understanding.

Also many nice cartoons are included for humor and enhancing explanations. One cartoon shows a team with seven basketball players of which 6 a short and one is very tall. In the caption the publicists asks the coach "Should we scare the opposition by announcing our mean height or lull them by announcing our median height?" A clear example where the one tall person distorts the picture giving a high value for the mean that does not represent the group while on the other hand the median gives a good representation of the central height for the group but hides the fact that they have a very tall player.

The book is great for beginners but is also a good reference book for anyone. It is stimulating and thought provoking.


Promotes Good Mathematical and Statistical Habits, as Well as Statistical Literacy   July 17, 2006
Gregory McMahan (Tottori, Japan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I first came across the fourth edition of this book, and immediately fell in love with both the book and the subject matter. When I pursued graduate study, I picked up a copy of the fifth edition of the book, and routinely gave statistical advice based on its contents to eager recipients. While in grad school, I lent my copy of the fifth edition to a friend struggling to understand statistical concepts even at a rudimentary level (as did most of the students in the program) and she never gave it back- that's how good it was (she later told me that after leaving her hands, it quickly found its way to several other students' hands).

The book's success rests solely on two important things- a clear, concise, and sometimes witty presentation of statistical basics, and a minimum of mathematical computation, formulae and Greek letters. This book teaches statistical conepts, their appropriate use, their limitations and most importantly, their abuse. Saying that the text is 'statistics lite' is disrespectful, but saying that the text helps to promote the use of thinking and reasoning when faced with statistics is giving it high praise.

While most books on the market emphasize often mindless mathematical computation and the manipulation of arcane formulae, this book eschews that and focuses solely on making sense of statistics, principally those stats that others have generated. Make no mistake: this is not a text for number crunchers, those looking to generate statistics (for this, consult Moore's excellent textbook, Introduction to the Practice of Statistics). The author made a successful attempt to introduce statistical concepts and the thinking and reasoning needed to use them appropriately long before the push to emphasize these aspects (spearheaded by the American Statistical Association) in the teaching of statistics became the rage.

The text had absolutely no faults. Learning from it was painless and fun. After reading it, I kinda sorta considered pursuing advanced training in statistics, but then backed off after seeing all of the Greek involved.

After reading and using this book, students will finally feel comfortable around means and standard deviations, p-values and null hypotheses. The only other textbook coming close to it is Purves and Pisani's Statistics (now likely in its fourth or fifth edition). A more mathematically rigorous book (one requiring numerical calculations) which also aims to impart a fair degree of comfort around statistics and instill some statistical literacy is Utts and Heckard's Mind on Statistics. In passing, I swear by the book, Statistics- A Spectator Sport, which makes for a good reference on key concepts.

I owe Professor Moore a great debt of gratitude for this book, as it opened my eyes to a new world, demystifying a previously intimidating body of knowledge, and helping me immensely to think and to reason through research problems involving a statistical component. One thing is certain: the next copy I purchase is never leaving my bookshelf, as it is too good to give away.


Great!   December 5, 2006
M. Ziebell (prescott, AZ United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Want to be statistics savvy? Don't want or can't handle the math in most texts? Then I recommend this book. Well written for the lay person, with careful thought given to progressive learning of stats concepts.

An excellent choice for someone who wants to be able to critically understand social statistics. The exercises and review sections are fun - not often the case in this area of study.


Oh What A Relief!   June 16, 2001
Aloria Mercer (Seattle, WA United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

I used this book for an applied research and statistics class. It was painfully easy to read and grasp the concepts. The visual aids, cartoons and graphs appearing after each concept were also helpful.