The objective of Statistical Methods, Second Edition, is to provide students
with a working introduction to statistical methods. Courses using this book are
normally taken by advanced undergraduate statistics students and graduate
students from various disciplines.
Statistical Methods is an upper-level requirement for undergraduate degrees in disciplines emphasizing quantitative skills, or a requirement for graduate degrees in disciplines where statistics is an important research tool. This
book is intended to be used for this type of course. The material in this book
provides an overview of a wide range of applications and normally requires two
semesters, although a limited knowledge of statistical methods is provided in
the first semester. Many students will continue with several additional courses
in specialized statistics applications.
Traditionally, textbooks used for statistical methods courses have emphasized plugging numbers into formulas, with computer usage as an afterthought. This approach has led to much mind-numbing drill, which obscures
the real issues. The increased usage of computers and availability of comprehensive statistical software packages would seem to imply that statistical
methods should now be taught in terms of implementing such software. This
approach is likely to make the computer appear as a black box into which one
pours data files and automatically receives the correct answers. However, a
computer does not know whether it is doing the correct analysis and is capable
of a beautifully annotated execution of an incorrect analysis. Also a computer
cannot interpret results and write a report.