A Handbook of Statistics

This book was written for individuals interested in learning about the practice of statistics without needing to understand the theoretical foundations of the field. The book’s serves as a handbook of sorts on techniques often used in fields such as business, demography, and health.

The book is divided into five main sections:

1. Introduction

2. Descriptive statistics

3. Probability

4. Statistical inference

5. Regression and correlation

The first section consists of one chapter that covers the motivation for studying statistics and some basic definitions used throughout the course. Sections two through four are further divided into chapters covering a specific concept or technique in support of the main section. For instance, the descriptive statistics section is broken down into two sections, one focusing on graphical techniques used to summarize data and the other focusing on numerical summaries of data sets. The techniques introduced in these sections will be illustrated using real world examples. Readers can practice the techniques demonstrated in the chapters with practice problems that are included within the chapters. The primary software package used to carry out the techniques introduced in this book is Microsoft Excel.

Preface

1. Statistics and Statistical Thinking
   1. Descriptive Statistics
   2. Inferential Statistics
   3. Types of Data
   4. Chapter 1 Problems
2. Collecting Data & Survey Design
   1. Sampling Methods
   2. Chapter 2 Exercises
3. Describing Data Sets
   1. Summarizing Qualitative Data
   2. Graphical Techniques for Describing Data
   3. Measures of Central Tendency
   4. Measures of Variability
   5. Combining the Mean and the Standard Deviation
   6. Chapter 3 Exercises
4. Probability
   1. Union & Intersection of Events
   2. The Additive Rule of Probability
   3. Conditional Probability
   4. Multiplicative Rule of Probability
   5. Chapter 4 Problems
5. Random Variables and Probability Distributions
   1. The Binomial Distribution
   2. The Normal Distribution
   3. Chapter 5 Problems
6. The Sampling Distribution
   1. The Sampling Distribution off x
7. Confidence Intervals
   1. Small Sample Confidence Intervals
   2. Chapter 7 Problems
8. Hypothesis Testing
   1. The Null and Alternative Hypothesis
   2. One or Two Sided Hypothesis
   3. Chapter 8 Problems
9. Correlation and Regression
   1. Scatterplots
   2. Correlation
   3. Simple Linear Regression
   4. Chapter 9 Problems
10. Endnotes