Applied Statistics Manual: A Guide to Improving and Sustaining Quality with Minitab

This book was written to provide guidance for those who need to apply statistical methods for practical use. While the book provides detailed guidance on the use of Minitab for calculation, simply entering data into a software program is not sufficient to reliably gain knowledge from data. The software will provide an answer, but the answer may be wrong if the sample was not taken properly, the data was unsuitable for the statistical test that was performed, or the wrong test was selected. It is also possible that the answer will be correct, but misinterpreted. This book provides both guidance in applying the statistical methods described as well as instructions for performing calculations without a statistical software program such as Minitab.

One of the authors is a professional statistician who spent nearly 13 years working at Minitab and the other is an experienced and certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Together, they strive to present the knowledge of a statistician in a format that can be easily understood and applied by non-statisticians facing real-world problems.

Their guidance is provided with the goal of making data analysis accessible and practical. Rather than focusing on theoretical concepts, the book delivers only the information that is critical to success for the practitioner. It is a thorough guide for those who have not yet been exposed to the value of statistics, as well as a reliable reference for those who have been introduced to statistics but are not yet confident in their abilities.

Matthew A. Barsalou is a Smarter Solutions certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, ASQ-certified Six Sigma Black Belt, quality engineer, and quality technician, and a TUV-certified quality manager, quality management representative, and auditor. He has a bachelor of science in industrial sciences, a master of liberal studies with emphasis in international business, and has a master of science in business administration and engineering from the Wilhelm Buchner Hochschule. He is the editor of the ASQ Statistics division s newsletter Statistics Digest, a regular contributor for Quality Progress s Statistics Roundtable column, as well as author of the books Root Cause Analysis, Statistics for Six Sigma Black Belts, The ASQ Pocket Guide to Statistics for Six Sigma Black Belts, and The Quality Improvement Field Guide.

Joel Smith is director of continuous improvement at a multi-billion dollar organization and previously spent nearly 13 years with Minitab Inc. in a variety of roles. He is a BMGI certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Dr Pepper Snapple Group certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a master s degree in statistics from Virginia Tech. In addition to other roles he has served as chair of the ASQ Statistics Division, chaired the Lean and Six Sigma World Conference, and authors the Random Thoughts column for Lean & Six Sigma Review.