Advanced High School Statistics - 2nd Edition

Reviewed by Patrick Eggleton, Professor of Mathematics, Taylor University on 12/16/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I've worked with a lot of statistics textbooks. I really like the organization of this text. It works logically from creating and organizing data to statistical summaries then to probability distributions and inference. There is a natural building of concepts. There are also often references to more complex statistical procedures, for instance when the conditions for a statistical procedure are not met. There are more topics shared than might be covered in a typical one semester offering of introductory statistics, but it is nice to have them available. In addition to the content, the text provides directions for different forms of technology including Casio and TI calculators, some Desmos connections, and even some results using R. There are connections to videos and other online tools that are also a benefit to this text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

As the text is now in the third edition, many errors from prior editions have been cleared up. Like many online tools, though, there are occasionally online links that no longer work.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I appreciate that the text seems to focus on current, technology focused methods of learning statistics. There are still connections to older practices, such as using tables and doing normal approximations for binomial distributions, the text does a nice job of emphasizing current methods. The data sets also seem to be relevant and often provided online so that they can be updated as needed.

Clarity rating: 5

I appreciate that the text focuses on the statistical procedures and concepts. As new terminology is introduced, it is clearly defined right away. The reading level seems appropriate for this level of course.

Consistency rating: 5

The concepts and terminology shared in the text were connected well both within different sections of the textbook but also within the exercises.

Modularity rating: 5

The primary chapters in the text would be typical to many introductory statistics texts. Each chapter is broken down into subsections with exercises that work within that section.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As already shared, the organization of the text seems very logical for introducing an emphasis on using data to answer questions, creating data, and then analyzing the data. I appreciate how techniques related to categorical data are separated from techniques related to numerical data.

Interface rating: 4

While the illustrations in the book are rather simple, they do a good job of illustrating concepts. For instance, images of possible distributions from non-normal populations are clearly organized and displayed to point out the power of the central limit theorem.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text reads well with proper grammatical structure and lack of overly technical language.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text does provide data sets from a variety of situations.

Comments

This book offers many benefits by not only being well organized and well written, but also by providing excellently connected data sets, videos, illustrations, and directions for technology. There is also an alternative edition provided through My Open Math that has electronically graded exercises.

Reviewed by Debbie Bowen, Instructor, Portland Community College on 12/26/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The entire text is easy to understand for beginners and it covers all needed subjects very well. An exception is that one-way and two-way ANOVA are not included, and these would be helpful for first year, second semester statistics students.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Overall, the material is correct with some minor problems (maybe typos), They are minor but can be confusing to students. A few examples are as follows: In some places, it should say "do not reject Ho" but it says "reject Ho". On page 412 the numbers used for SE are not correct, and it shows "n1" where it should be "n2"; and of course, the SE value is incorrect and the rest of the problem is wrong as a result.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content and specific examples are all excellent choices. In my opinion, it will not be obsolete for a long. However, over time some numbers in examples and problems might become outdated (prices, etc.) but should be very easy to fix.
The TI 83/84 technology used in this text is obsolete. Also, when Excel output is used, "Excel" should be mentioned. I feel instructions for how to use 83/84 should be replaced with instruction for how to use Excel, because Excel is updated often and is available to most students without additional cost.

Clarity rating: 5

The way this text was written, it is easy for students to read and understand. Even if students have only taken a first term of algebra, they should be able to read and understand it.

Consistency rating: 5

Text is consistent all the way through.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity is excellent. The way each chapter is divided into sections and subsections makes it easy for students. It is easy for students and teachers to communicate because they can easily refer to a specific subsection when discussing a question or an example.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics are arranged in an appropriate order.

Interface rating: 5

This text has no interface issue throughout. Graphs and charts and output of technology are arranged well.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There are no cultural issues at all.

Comments

I believe it is a simple task to fix all minor problems in the ebook and perhaps to add one- and two-way ANOVA. For the hard copy, an "errata sheet/pamphlet" with corrections and perhaps material for one-and two-way ANOVA could be distributed. And then corrections and additions could appear in the next edition.
I highly recommend removing TI 83/84 and instructions and replacing with Excel instructions.

Reviewed by Michael McAfee, Instructor of Mathematics, Mt. Hood Community College on 1/9/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I would give the book a 4.5 score here if possible. The coverage of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing of population proportions and means is adequate but could have more material. I would like to see more homework exercises in each section. The index is complete.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found almost no errors/typos and they were not conceptual errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The real-world examples and content are relevant and up-to-date and I do not see that these will become obsolete. Any updates made to the text should be easily implemented.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is very easy to read and follow. I really like the checkpoints and examples. The answers do not show up until the reader clicks on them.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology and framework is consistent. The definitions and terminology do not differ from standard, accepted probability and statistics definitions and terminology.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section in the chapter could be assigned as an individual reading assignment. The sections are complete but concise and easy to read and follow.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I really don't see the presentation of the topics could be improved. Everything is laid out clearly and in order.

Interface rating: 5

The text is laid out perfectly. There is a table of contents column on the left that is always visible, showing the sections and appendices so the text is easy to navigate. There is no distortion of images/charts or display features. All images/charts have a zoom-in feature. Again, I really like how the checkpoints and examples are laid out requiring the reader to click on them to get the full answer. It gives the reader the opportunity think about the concept first.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not offensive or culturally insensitive and includes a variety of races, ethnicities and backgrounds.

Comments

The short videos that accompany the text are outstanding and really help motivate the material in the text. The power point slides are excellent as well. The only thing that I would like to see is more homework exercises.

Reviewed by Yen To, Dir. of Assessment & IR, Missouri Western State University on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook contains the main components necessary to cover the average beginner course in statistics. It doesn’t provide a staggered introduction to statistical concepts but rather jumps right in with demonstrating how statistics can be used in an applied setting. As a standalone the books covers several topics but not in depth it is just enough for a survey course. The real strength of this text is in the video overviews and the informational slides. These supplementary materials allow students greater insight into the content with applied or real life examples. The authors also include examples of how to interpret the numerical findings as well as considering assumptions with the various tests.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not detected any obvious errors in the content.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is current and includes examples from current topics like stem cell research. The examples vary and are not within the same discipline (e.g., medical, psychological, political, etc.) and they are not aligned with one single software package like R, SPSS, or Excel therefore the text can be used across the natural and social sciences with a variety of computing tools.

Clarity rating: 5

This is written in a very straightforward manner and doesn’t over complicate the content by exhausting the reader with too many definitional terms. The authors provides the minimum of what the reader needs to know in order to follow the examples and conduct the exercises. The added use of figures is applauded as it helps develop the reader’s ability over the course of the textbook to visualize the data and distributions.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is written in a consistent voice.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is easily divisible to coincide with the assignment of multiple interacting units. The subsections can be switched around or reorganized to match the instructors own preferred organization of the content as the units are mostly self-sustaining (except for those with extended examples).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is not like a typical stats textbook where the content is structured by type of statistical test or type of research question. Instead the organization further confirms the data-centric perspective of this text by focusing for the most part on the type of data that the student has and what tests can be done within that limited range. It is a slightly different flow and I find it interesting and logical.

Interface rating: 5

There were no interface issues or navigation problems with the downloaded pdf version. Charts and figures loaded and resized easily.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I have yet to detect major grammatical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text does not appear obviously offensive or culturally insensitive.

Comments

The text is written clearly and the examples are very applied. There are no frills, just good briefly covered content. While this is written for an advanced high school course it could easily be used for college or even beginner Master-level courses. It is also a good resource for those needing a refresher on how to interpret data findings or consider the limitations related to the nature of their data. This text is straight to the point and covers a good range of content.