Lies, Damned Lies, or Statistics: How to Tell the Truth with Statistics

Reviewed by Matthew Watts, Adjunct Instructor, Tidewater Community College on 12/16/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Overall, the book is rather concise, almost to a fault. Most readers will want more examples and exercises. The textbook will probably work better as a supplement or set of notes than a traditional textbook. However, this terse nature may work to its advantage with those less amenable to reading mathematics.
In terms of covering all the areas and ideas for a first semester statistics course, the textbook puts more time into building a foundation with basics and probability, which many books lack. Because of this, less time is devoted to inference, with only the basics of confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Two sample CIs and tests are not covered. Binomial distributions are not covered.
A comprehensive index is provided with links to relevant pages. There is no glossary for the entire text but definitions are provided for key terms in the body of the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I could not find any content errors. The author clearly knows statistics and mathematics well. Many historical anecdotes are references are well researched including some common misconceptions.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The textbook follows the traditional and theoretical approach to statistics without the use of bootstrapping or bayesian probability. Sometimes there is a modern sensibility e.g., acknowledging pie charts should be avoided. Other times, antiquated techniques e.g. stem and leaf plots, are still used (perhaps due to a required course outcome). Most examples are contrived so they will not become obsolete, though they may not engage learners either.

Clarity rating: 5

The writing is elegant but still approachable. Good explanations of tough concepts like p-value. Terminology is used effectively with key words in bold.

Consistency rating: 5

Written very mathematically with careful attention to definitions and logic.

Modularity rating: 4

There is liberal use of headings and subheading. Because the content is inherently interconnected, taking individual sections may lessen the impact. However a reader could dive into a particular slice and still follow along. Technology calculations refer to Libre Office Calc but avoid detailed explanations or tutorials.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization differs from many statistics books but has a logical organization based not on the procedure of a statistical study, but rather on the relationships between the knowledge involved.

Interface rating: 4

The book makes good use of internal links to other parts of the text. Links to external websites and the works cited all appear to work. Images and charts are formatted nicely in color, though some have rather small text. There is a Latex file for the textbook but additional files are necessary and it is not clear where to get them.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I only found a couple of typos

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book mostly avoids sensitive areas as contexts, however there is some American cultural bias.

Comments

The author is an expert on OER and explains the license for this book and its use very well.

Reviewed by Stella Fateh, Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 6/7/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This is a text book written in 2017 meant to cover the basic concepts of statistics for a one semester undergraduate course. The contents include: descriptive statistics (population, variables, samples, graphs), numerical descriptions (measures of center and dispersion), Bi-variate Statistics (scatterplots, correlation, independent and dependent variables), Linear regression, probability theory, and research methods (population parameter, causality, control group, blinking, etc.).
There is no discussion of concepts such as: levels of measurement, counting methods in probability, confidence interval for population proportion, type I and II mistakes, and evaluation sample size, and Chi square.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

A few graphs on the text do not have proper vertical and horizontal labels (couple of examples are page 37 and 40)

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

There are places in the text that is not relevant to the topic of discussion. For instance, on page 54 where the author brings in an example of Quantum Mechanics to elaborate about the probability theory, the reader is left with no conclusion. There is no meaningful connection between the title of the book and materials presented in the text.

Clarity rating: 5

The materials presented in a reasonable clear way.

Consistency rating: 4

The material is presented appropriate and the text cover most of contents that is needed for an introductory statistics course.

Modularity rating: 3

Each topic build on previous topics with an exception of chapter 5 (bringing home the data) which seems belong more to the beginning sections of the book. Also, a change in font and size of letters could be helpful navigate smoothly between chapter examples and exercises.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The tile of the text does not reflect the content of the text

Interface rating: 5

It seems to be fine

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors are found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is neither cultural-sensitive nor offensive.

Comments

Overall this is a good additional resource for someone who is interested in the subject. However, it might not be the best choice to be used in a college level statistics class.

Reviewed by Rawan Angele Khabbaz, Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 5/28/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

As one would expect, the book provides a comprehensive coverage of statistics, ranging from measurement to probability theory to basic inferences
to analysis . The topics are covered in a reasonable and fair manner. In addition, the author presents a user friendly discussion of topics that are often not covered in introductory-level statistics books but that need to be included, such as mediation and moderation or sampling
techniques. Furthermore, the volume discusses these topics as they relate to the methodologies that we use to study communication phenomena. I remember when I was taking graduate statistics I was always frustrated with the textbooks that were used in the courses I took because there always seem to be a disconnection between the discussion of statistics and how we actually use them in our day to-day lives of conducting research. Poritz has done a good job of providing timely examples of communication research to highlight the relevance of what the students are learning to their future careers.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The examples are accurate and accessible, easy to understand and clear.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

A typical statistics textbook summarizes the current practices of a discipline.
This textbook has the potential to greatly advance how communication students use statistics. Many stats volumes act as if nothing has changed in statistics. This volume is cutting edge. For example, the author’s discussion of techniques for addressing various shortcomings of typically used statistical tests is very nice.

Clarity rating: 5

The sections breadth and depth are clear and measurable, very well laid out.

Consistency rating: 5

I find from the beginning to the end the material is very consistent and rich.

Modularity rating: 5

The breakdown is easy to find and locate topics that need to be readdressed.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The flow and organization is a strong suit of this author.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is very readable and clear.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors are evident.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

It 's hard to comment on this..

Comments

The volume would be appropriate for an entry-level college course on
statistics. The book would also be appropriate for undergraduate students working
on an honor’s thesis.