Statistics for Beginners (Hardbound - 2011)

Historically, statisticians have tended to focus on statistical techniques with equations and formulas. More recently, there has been a trend to explain these techniques and concepts in a friendlier way, which is exactly the aim of this book. It explains the very basic ideas in statistics in an easily comprehensible manner with the intention of imparting students, educators, and researchers with a solid understanding of the subject. The author’s belief reflected throughout this book is: “Data are like nectars, scattered everywhere. The statistician takes the role of a bee to collect and refine the nectar into honey.”

The topics explored in this book will be thought provoking for those who are statistically minded. The book covers the background, important steps in the calculation of concepts, advantages and disadvantages of concepts, and all-important conundrum of instructors—how to get the interest of the students to the statistical world of formulas.

The purpose of the book is to provide clear and easy-to-understand explanations of statistical concepts to those with no previous knowledge of statistics. The book provides a clear presentation on when, how, and why various statistical tests are used. It is intended to help the readers to better appreciate the interplay of theory, methods, and statistics. More specifically, the book provides explanations of basic concepts and terminologies by constantly stressing the interaction between statistical concepts and research methods—answering the readers’ question: What are these standard deviations and correlations for, and do we need them? This is what a student in an introductory course or a beginner in statistical analysis actually looks for, rather than mathematical proofs of such theorems as binomial theorems.

The book differs from other books on statistics and research methods because the scope expands beyond simple description of statistical concepts or research strategies. Thus, statistical concepts and their applications are brought together into a single fabric, whether it is horizontally or vertically woven. Such a fabric will shed some light into the minds of students and researchers by constantly reminding them that statistics cannot be shielded from its research applications in various fields, social or natural.

Vijaya Krishnan has been an educator and researcher for three decades. She earned her doctorate from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, under the supervision of the eminent Canadian Demographer Dr. Karol J Krotki. Dr. Krishnan has taught statistics and research methods at different universities and colleges across Canada and Africa. She has carried out a niche for herself in the teaching circles in Canada and some countries in Africa. Her publications include over 40 papers and articles in peer reviewed journals, including Journal of Bio-Social Science, Social Biology, Canadian Studies in Population, and Women’s Health and Urban Life.