A First Course In Statistics

Part 1 This is statistics: fundamental ideas; asking the question; collecting the data; deriving the statistics; communicating the results. Part 2 Asking questions: questions and statistics; who asks the questions; how to ask questions; how not to ask questions; questionnaire design; when to ask questions. Part 3 Collection of data: primary data; probability and sampling; organizing the data; tabulation of data; secondary data; graphical representation of data. Part 4 Deriving the statistics: single statistics; dispersion; multiple statistics; index numbers; regression; correlation; time series. Part 5 Communicating the results: the general principles of presentation; demonstration tables; pictorial representation; the use of words. Part 6 Answers to exercises.

Aimed specifically at the first exam in Statistics of the Royal Society of Arts, this text introduces the subject in a manner that presumes no previous knowledge, requires only basic arithmetic, and never brings in a statistical concept without prior explanation and preparation.