Introduction to Statistics I

Subject: Business

Course Level: 1st Year Ungergrad

Resource Type: Module, Textbook

Date Released: N/A

Description: This review aims to improve the current open text so it could become a standard text for STAT 213, at the University of Calgary. To be specific, Chapters 1 to 9 of this text are reviewed. The overall quality of this text is good. It has a nice selection of topics that may cover many instructors’ choice of topics. However, the limited usage of real life problems and the simplicity of the examples and exercise questions makes this text fall short to be an excellent source of assessments. But it may help students to practice on their own and get self-assessed thanks to its enclosure of solutions for most questions, if not all. Further the lack of simulation apps and discussion of software usage in this text disqualify itself to be a great source of lab work sheets. There are typos and statements where further clarifications are needed, and more details on this matter could be found in the comment area below appropriate review criteria.

URL: http://cnx.org/contents/C-wgU1_F@4.1:-mZCQZc7@2/Introduction

Date of Review: 2016-09-13 11:15:00

Review Details

Comprehensiveness: (The learning object covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately.)	No
Comments: In Section 4.3, the probability mass function of the Poisson distribution is not given. It's recommended that the author give it explicitly. Conditional probabilities involving three mutually exclusive events (A1, A2, and A3) and another event (B), for example, is manageable and appropriate for first year students, so adding a couple of examples/exercises on this topic is recommended. The concept of complementary events (probabilities) can be applied in a variety of distributions such as Binomial, Poisson and Normal, but there is only one short paragraph introducing and exemplifying the usage of it. Thus, having a couple more examples/exercises for this concept is recommended. The traditional set theory notations of "and" and "or" events, namely, intersection and union events, are avoided completely in this text. However, some instructors may use set theory notations in their lecture notes while using this text. So a paragraph relating the set theory notations to the plain English word notations is recommended to help students make the connection. In Section 9.2 Table V-2, when the sample size is larger than 30 but the population standard deviation is unknown, some people may like using a Z test, while applying the Central Limit Theorem and at the same time approximating the population standard deviation by the sample standard deviation; but on the other hand, some other people may like using a T test since the population standard deviation is unknown and the underlying distribution can reasonably be assumed to follow approximately normal. Either way, the author needs to clearly explain the conditions for each. What's more, techniques to tell whether a data set follows a normal distribution should be discussed in the text.

Comprehensiveness: (The learning object covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately.)

Comments:
In Section 4.3, the probability mass function of the Poisson distribution is not given. It's recommended that the author give it explicitly. Conditional probabilities involving three mutually exclusive events (A1, A2, and A3) and another event (B), for example, is manageable and appropriate for first year students, so adding a couple of examples/exercises on this topic is recommended. The concept of complementary events (probabilities) can be applied in a variety of distributions such as Binomial, Poisson and Normal, but there is only one short paragraph introducing and exemplifying the usage of it. Thus, having a couple more examples/exercises for this concept is recommended. The traditional set theory notations of "and" and "or" events, namely, intersection and union events, are avoided completely in this text. However, some instructors may use set theory notations in their lecture notes while using this text. So a paragraph relating the set theory notations to the plain English word notations is recommended to help students make the connection. In Section 9.2 Table V-2, when the sample size is larger than 30 but the population standard deviation is unknown, some people may like using a Z test, while applying the Central Limit Theorem and at the same time approximating the population standard deviation by the sample standard deviation; but on the other hand, some other people may like using a T test since the population standard deviation is unknown and the underlying distribution can reasonably be assumed to follow approximately normal. Either way, the author needs to clearly explain the conditions for each. What's more, techniques to tell whether a data set follows a normal distribution should be discussed in the text.

Content Accuracy: (Content, including diagrams and other supplementary material, is accurate, error-free and unbiased.)	Yes
Comments: There is a typo in Section 4.2, b(x) in the Binomial probability mass function should be replaced by P(x) as explained in the sentence following this formula. Also q is not defined in this formula when it is introduced at the first time. A typo in Figure 9.3, it should be mu0 instead of mu1 in the right side graph. One typo in Section 9.4, in the formula of the Z statistic, it should be p0q0 instead of p0-q0.

Content Accuracy: (Content, including diagrams and other supplementary material, is accurate, error-free and unbiased.)

Yes

Comments:
There is a typo in Section 4.2, b(x) in the Binomial probability mass function should be replaced by P(x) as explained in the sentence following this formula. Also q is not defined in this formula when it is introduced at the first time. A typo in Figure 9.3, it should be mu0 instead of mu1 in the right side graph. One typo in Section 9.4, in the formula of the Z statistic, it should be p0q0 instead of p0-q0.

Relevance/Longevity: (Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The content is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.)	Yes
Comments:

Clarity: (The learning object is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used.)	Yes
Comments: The condition of the Central Limit Theorem, i.e., the sample size needs to be at least 30, is not explicitly set apart from other sentences of the paragraph where this statement is. It's recommended to make this sentence bold so students see it clearly and understand the important of this condition.

Consistency: (The learning object is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.)	Yes
Comments:

Modularity: (The learning object is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). The learning object should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader. The ranking of N/A can be used if the object is already small and therefore would not be used in smaller parts.)	Yes
Comments:

Modularity: (The learning object is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). The learning object should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader. The ranking of N/A can be used if the object is already small and therefore would not be used in smaller parts.)

Yes

Comments:

Organization/Structure/Flow: (The topics in the learning object are presented in a logical, clear fashion.)	Yes
Comments:

Interface: (The learning object is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.)	Yes
Comments:

Grammatical Errors: (The learning object contains no grammatical errors.)	Yes
Comments:

Cultural Relevance: (The learning object is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It should make use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.)	Yes
Comments:

Are there any other comments you would like to make about this book, for example, its appropriateness in a Canadian context or specific updates you think need to be made?

Level: (For what level would this text be appropriate (i.e. First Year, Second Year, etc)?)
First Year

Subject Matter: Business

Subject Matter:
Business

Subcategories: Commerce, Economics, Human Resources, Marketing

Subcategories:
Commerce, Economics, Human Resources, Marketing

Levels: 1st Year Ungergrad

Levels:
1st Year Ungergrad

Format:

Format:

Type: Module, Textbook

Type:
Module, Textbook

Comments:

Comments:

Peer Reviewer Name: Bingrui (Cindy) Sun

License for this resource: CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons

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Introduction to Statistics I

Review Details