How to choose the best statistics textbook for you

Step by step guide on how to choose the best statistics textbook for you

Overall considerations

This guide is given on the assumption that you are looking for a statistics textbook that will complement the textbook that your professor has assigned as the official text for a course you are taking. No matter how good that book may be and how competent your professor may be, most students (and researchers) have difficulties with the concepts, logic, and above all the math of Statistics.

In real life, when you are working on the research for your dissertation in graduate school or even much later on research as a post doc or a professor, the problem is magnified as you are faced with the question "What statistical test do I use to analyze my data?". You had that brilliant idea for an experiment that would stun the world and now you are looking for the appropriate test to analyze the data. Not an easy task. Once you know the answer to this question, you can analyze your data by using a statistical package (there are many around, many are free).

However, this answer is not easy to get to. Many researchers spend hours on the phone talking with their colleagues in the Math department getting advice. In some cases statisticians are not capable of solving your problem, because Statistics for data analysis requires practical knowledge, and criteria conventionally adopted. Theoretic math has to be trimmed and tailored when in contact with the real world. This is so even in venerable Physics.

What is the best Statistics book for college students?
It depends on your major. Natural science majors (e.g. biology, behavioral sciences) are heavy on lab experiments and scales of measurement that demand parametric statistics. Social sciences usually conduct research in non-laboratory settings and the data they collect are of scales of measurement that do not allow the use of parametric statistics; they use non-parametric tests for data analysis In selecting your textbook you should not miss this most basic consideration,

You are looking for a college statistics book most probably because the assigned textbook for the course you are taking is too difficult Many textbooks use a large number of formulas that often are terrifying in their appearance That is because the authors of these books are mathematicians specializing in Statistics Unless you have chosen a major in math, there is little justification for you to be happy with this manner of learning Statistics. The fact of the matter is the necessary formulas are few and are simple, provided you understand the concepts and concrete operations of Statistics.

In graduate school where you will do loads of research, you will find that practice requires a different kind of understanding that foes beyond using formulas or statistical packages. When the time comes for you to defend your thesis in front of an audience of other sciences, formulas and statistics calculators are useless

What is the best book for graduate students and researchers?
The best Statistics book for graduate students and researchers should be one that teaches the concepts and logic needed in designing experiments and analyzing the issuing data. To accomplish this, a Statistics text should cover the basics in Measurement, something that Physics takes very seriously while bio-behavioral and social science ignore

Conclusion

You must truly learn Statistics, fully understand the concepts, logic, math, and also learn how it is applied in research. Stay away from the maze of complex equations and the game of plugging in data on them .

Step 1

Here you need some self analysis. If you are good in math go to the next step. If not, look for a stat textbook that presents math in a simple manner. How simple depends on the judgment of the author of course, so you need to be cautious. You may be surprised to know that books with easy math are often more advanced than those with awe-inspiring formulas.

Step 2

Who is the author? Read about the author as this will reflect the way material is presented and ultimately its being useful to you or not. Go for books written by experimental scientists. Be cautious with fancy reviews, those are not always honest. Should you choose a statistics textbook whose author is a sociologist, if you are a sociology major? It would be advisable to do so, however take into account the cautions I spell out in this article. The first and most important consideration should be understanding the concepts and logic of Statistics. Without this, usage is not useful.

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