Statistical Concepts – A First Course

Now in its second edition, Statistical Concepts—A First Course presents the first 11 chapters from the fifth edition of An Introduction to Statistical Concepts. Designed for first and lower-level statistics courses, this book communicates a conceptual, intuitive understanding of statistics that does not assume extensive or recent training in mathematics and only requires a rudimentary knowledge of algebra.

The book describes the most basic statistical concepts and is designed to help readers truly understand statistical concepts, in what situations they can be applied, and how to apply them to data. Topics covered include ways of representing data graphically, statistical measures that describe a set of data, the normal distribution and other types of standard scores, and an introduction to probability and sampling, as well as various inferential tests, including those involving tests of means (e.g., t tests), proportions, variances, and correlations. This new edition includes fully updated content, expanded coverage of concepts and applications in SPSS and R, and new discussions of open science and data visualization. Additionally, supplemental digital resources are available to support instructors and students alike.

Providing accessible and comprehensive coverage of topics suitable for an undergraduate or graduate course in statistics, this book is an invaluable resource for students undertaking an introductory course in statistics in any number of social science and behavioral science disciplines.