Data Matters: Conceptual Statistics for a Random World

Today’s reader is increasingly inundated with data and statistics, yet has little mathematical or statistical training to help him understand the storm of data in which he lives. Data Matters talks directly to those readers, without formulas, without heavy mathematics. It will appeal to any motivated reader who wants help understanding the data he reads in the newspaper, sees on TV, or encounters on the job.

Author Nicholas Maxwell uses easy-to-understand explanations, real-world contexts and a focus on statistical concepts to help bring a deeper understanding of the world. Each chapter is packed with real data and quotes from today’s news media. Interesting and relevant topics are used to illustrate the core mathematical ideas. The text is written with non-math, non-science readers in mind. Yet it still provides the resources needed to fully understand and apply statistics.

Nicholas Maxwell received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Before entering into his consulting career Dr. Maxwell taught Statistics, Decision Sciences, and Psychology at the Bothell Campus of the University of Washington. In addition to this text Dr. Maxwell has written for several scholarly journals including The Journal of Statistics Education.