Common Sense Statistics

The purpose of this book is not to teach statistics for its own sake, but to provide a simple approach to data analysis. This book deals with data analysis, the process of reducing and describing large amounts of numerical information or data and making inferences about that data. Further, it attempts to explain why it makes sense to do it at all. Within the framework of this book, statistics is the study of not only the manipulation of data, but also, and more importantly, the why and wherefore of data manipulation for more effective understanding of numbers. The format of this book is designed so that each chapter provides a conceptual framework for the statistic being covered and explains the rules for appropriately using that statistical technique.