Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft Excel and Minitab by Terry L. Sincich

From the Publisher

This book integrates technology into the practical introduction of statistics — both Microsoft Excel and MINITAB are incorporated as tools for data analysis. These Excel and MINITAB tutorials give users access to step-by-step instructions and screen shots for using the software to perform the statistical techniques presented in the chapter. Real-world applications and critical thinking skills are emphasized throughout that will allow readers to realize greater success in the workplace. Reorganized content — Rank tests are integrated throughout, dot plots added in Chapter 2, cumulative binomial tables added to appendix, section on the normal approximation to the binomial distribution added to Chapter 6, and goodness-of-fit test of multinomial category probabilities added to Chapter 8. For use as an introduction to statistics reference with a background in college algebra.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Forewords & Introductions
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Forewords & Introductions

In our many years of teaching introductory statistics courses at the University of South Florida and Baruch College, we have continually searched for ways to improve the teaching of these courses. Our vision for teaching these introductory statistics courses has been shaped by active participation in a series of professional conferences as well as the reality of serving a diverse group of students at a large university. Over the years, our vision has come to include these principles:

• Students need a frame of reference when learning about a subject, especially one that is not their major. That frame of reference for introductory statistics students should be the various areas in which statistics can be applied, including business, biology, education, engineering, mathematics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Each statistical topic needs to be related to at least one of these areas of application.
• Virtually all the students taking introductory statistics courses are majoring in areas other than statistics. Introductory courses should focus on underlying principles that are important for non-statistics majors.
• The use of spreadsheet and/or statistical software should be integrated into all aspects of the introductory statistics course. The reality that exists in the workplace is that spreadsheet software (and sometimes statistical software) is most typically available on the desktop. Our teaching approach needs to recognize this reality and make our courses more consistent with the workplace environment.
• Textbooks that use software must provide instructions at a depth that maximizes the student's ability touse the software with a minimum risk of failure.
• The focus in teaching each topic should be on (1) the application of the topic to a specific problem, (2) the interpretation of results, (3) the presentation of assumptions, (4) the evaluation of the assumptions, and (5) the discussion of what should be done if the assumptions are violated. These points are particularly important in regression and forecasting and in hypothesis testing. Although the illustration of some computations is inevitable, the focus on computations should be minimized.
• Both classroom examples and homework exercises should relate to actual or realistic data as much as possible. Students should be encouraged to look beyond the statistical analysis of data to the interpretation of results in an applied context, preferably through the use of case studies.

This philosophy led us to develop Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft^® Excel and MINITAB^®. Designed as an introductory text in statistics for students with a background in college algebra, our text contains the following features that distinguish it from the many other statistics texts available.

Each new idea is introduced and illustrated by real data-based examples taken from a wide variety of disciplines and sources. These examples demonstrate how to solve various types of statistical problems encountered in the real world. We believe that students better understand definitions, generalizations, and concepts after seeing a real application. Each example is set off for easy identification and contains a full, detailed solution to the problem.

The spreadsheet application Microsoft Excel and the statistical software MINITAB are integrated throughout the entire text. Many texts published and revised in the past twenty years have incorporated the use of popular statistical software packages such as SAS, SPSS, and MINITAB. Few, however, have successfully integrated Excel. With the increasing functionality and power of worksheet applications, virtually all kinds of statistical analyses taught in the introductory course can now be supported by Excel and the statistics add-in provided with this text (PHStat2). In addition to its possible use in a statistics course, students Emphasis on Critical Thinking and Interpretation of Computer Output

Both Excel- and MINITAB-generated graphs and output accompany every statistical technique presented, allowing instructors to focus on the statistical analysis of data and the interpretation of the results rather than the calculations required to obtain the results. Free from memorizing formulas and performing hand calculations, students are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills that will allow them to realize greater success in the workplace. Examples on hand calculations are provided for those instructors who desire flexibility in teaching the course.

For the novice, The Excel Primer provides basic instruction on using Windows and Microsoft Excel and The MINITAB Primer provides basic instruction on using MINITAB. Excel and MINITAB Tutorials appear at the end of pertinent chapters and give step-by-step instructions and screen shots for using the applications to perform the statistical techniques presented in the chapter.

All data sets that are stored in the Excel and MINITAB directories on the CD that accompanies the text are identified with a CD-ROM icon and the name is provided.

The CD-ROM that accompanies the text also includes PHStat2, the latest version of PHStat, Prentice Hall's statistical add-in for Microsoft Excel for Windows. PHStat2 minimizes the work associated with setting up statistical solutions in Microsoft Excel by automating the creation of worksheets and charts. PHStat2, in combination with Excels Data Analysis Too1PAK add-in and table and chart wizards, allows users to perform statistical analyses on virtually all topics covered in an introductory statistics course. (Compared to its predecessor, PHStat2 contains a number of new or enhanced procedures and now includes a full help system for easy reference. For more information about PHStat2, see Appendix E.)

Each chapter opens with a real-world application and data set to motivate the material presented in the chapter and to provide a real-life context for learning statistics. The "Statistics in the Real World" problem is revisited throughout the chapter in relevant sections. At the end of each of these sections, the data set is analyzed using the method presented in the section and relevant conclusions are drawn from the analysis.

The following features are incorporated throughout the text to help students learn and retain new ideas:

• Self-test questions appear immediately after important ideas have been introduced to test the student's comprehension of the concept and to help develop good study habits. Answers given in the Appendix allow students to check their work.
• Summary boxes are set off to provide step-by-step instructions for the statistical techniques presented.
• Side notes provide additional explanations of key ideas adjacent to where the concept is first referenced.
• Each chapter ends with a list of Key Terms, Formulas, and Symbols with page references that guide the student back to the text in order to review the element in context.
• Each chapter begins with a set of Objectives. Students can determine if the objectives have been met by answering a series of Checking Your Understanding questions at the end of the chapter.

This text includes all the topics covered in a basic introductory statistics course, including data collection (Chapter 1), descriptive statistics (Chapters 2 and 3), probability and probability distributions (Chapters 4 - 6), confidence intervals (Chapters 7 and 9), hypothesis tests (Chapters 8 and 9), regression (Chapter 10), and analysis of variance (Chapter 11). A minimal amount of probability is presented, allowing more time for instructors to teach statistical inference (Chapters 7-11). Unique to this introductory text is a section on proper graphical presentation (Section 2.6), which promotes E. R. Tufte's principles of graphical excellence.

The second edition of Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft^® Excel and MINITAB^® includes a number of additions and enhancements:

• Chapter 1—Collecting Internet Data. Section 1.4 now includes a discussion and example on obtaining data available via the Internet.
• Chapter 2—Dot Plots. We've added dot plots as another method for graphing quantitative data in Section 2.3.
• Chapter 5—Binomial Tables. In addition to obtaining binomial probabilities using Excel and MINITAB, we demonstrate how to use cumulative binomial tables.
• Chapter 6—Normal Approximation to the Binomial. A new section (Section 6.4) has been added on using the normal distribution to approximate binomial probabilities.
• Chapter 8—Testing Category Probabilities for a Qualitative Variable. The chi-square goodness of fit test for category probabilities of a single qualitative variable is now included in Section 8.9.
• Chapters 9-11—Integration of Nonparametric Methods. The following nonparametric tests (in Chapter 12 of the previous edition) are now integrated as optional sections in the chapters with their parametric alternatives: Wilcoxon rank sum test (Section 9.7), Wilcoxon signed ranks test (Section 9.8), Spearman's rank correlation test (Section 10.13), and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA test (Section 11.8).
• PHStat2—The latest version of the PHStat statistics add-in now includes additional features relating to tables and charts, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, and regression, along with a help system.
• MINITAB Tutorials—The second edition of the text now includes MINITAB tutorials in addition to Excel tutorials at the end of each chapter.

Each element in the package has been accuracy-checked to ensure clarity, adherence to the approaches presented in the main text, and freedom from computational, typographical, and statistical errors.

Instructor's Solutions Manual
(by Mark Dummeldinger) (ISBN 0-13-041587-1). Complete solutions to all even-numbered problems are provided in this manual. Manual solutions are most frequently provided for the "Using the Tools" problems while a combination of hand and Excel solutions are presented for the "Applying the Concepts" problems. Solutions are also provided for the Statistics in the Real World application that begins each chapter. Solutions to the odd-numbered problems are found in the Student's Solutions Manual.

Test Bank
(by Tom Bratcher) (ISBN 0-13-041580-4). The Test Bank offers a full complement of more than 1,000 additional problems that correlate to exercises presented in the text. Microsoft Word^™ files for this Test Bank are available from the publisher.

TestGen EQ Computerized Test Bank
(ISBN 0-13-041586-3)

Data Files
Data files for most problems and for the Statistics in the Real World applications are contained on the CD-ROM that is packaged with each copy of the text. When a given data set is referenced, a disk icon with the file name will appear in the text near the exercise. The data files may also be downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Companion Web Site:
The Companion Web site provides self-scoring quizzes, an online syllabus maker, technology projects, and data files for the textbook.

Student's Solutions Manual
(by Mark Dummeldinger) (ISBN 0-13-041592-8). Fully worked out solutions to all of the odd-numbered problems are provided in this manual. Careful attention has been paid to ensure that all methods of solution and notation are consistent with those used in the core text.

We are extremely grateful to the following reviewers who provided excellent suggestions for revising the text: Julia Hassett, Oakton Community College; Patty Monroe, Greenville Technical College; Robert L. Raymond, University of St. Thomas; Shannon Schumann, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; and Judy Eng Woo, Bellevue Community College. In addition we would like to thank the Biometrika Trustees, American Cyanamid Company, Annals of Mathematical Statistics, and the Chemical Rubber Company for their kind permission to publish various tables in Appendix B.

This book reflects the efforts of a great many people over a number of years. Professor Emeritus William Mendenhall (University of Florida) and publisher Don Dellen (now deceased) were instrumental in developing and shaping earlier editions of Statistics by Example, upon which this text is partially based. Special thanks are due to our ancillary author, Mark Dummeldinger, and his typist Kelly Barber. Phyllis Barnidge and Lynda Kay Steele of Laurel Technical Services have done an excellent job of accuracy checking the manuscript and have helped us to ensure a clean answer appendix and solutions. The Prentice Hall staff of Quincy McDonald, Joanne Wendelken, Angela Battle, Amy Lysik, Linda Behrens, and Alan Fischer, and Elm Street Publishing Services' Martha Beyerlein helped greatly with all phases of the text development, production, and marketing effort. Pam Johnson did an outstanding job as copy editor. Finally, we would like to thank our wives and children for their patience, understanding, love, and assistance irt making this book a reality. It is to them that we dedicate this book.

We have gone to great lengths to make this text both pedagogically sound and error-free. If you have any suggestions or material requiring clarification, or should you find potential errors, please contact Terry Sincich at or David Levine at. For questions concerning PHStat2, see Appendix E and the PHStat Web site located at.

Read an Excerpt

Educational Philosophy

In our many years of teaching introductory statistics courses at the University of South Florida and Baruch College, we have continually searched for ways to improve the teaching of these courses. Our vision for teaching these introductory statistics courses has been shaped by active participation in a series of professional conferences as well as the reality of serving a diverse group of students at a large university. Over the years, our vision has come to include these principles:

• Students need a frame of reference when learning about a subject, especially one that is not their major. That frame of reference for introductory statistics students should be the various areas in which statistics can be applied, including business, biology, education, engineering, mathematics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Each statistical topic needs to be related to at least one of these areas of application.
• Virtually all the students taking introductory statistics courses are majoring in areas other than statistics. Introductory courses should focus on underlying principles that are important for non-statistics majors.
• The use of spreadsheet and/or statistical software should be integrated into all aspects of the introductory statistics course. The reality that exists in the workplace is that spreadsheet software (and sometimes statistical software) is most typically available on the desktop. Our teaching approach needs to recognize this reality and make our courses more consistent with the workplace environment.
• Textbooks that use software must provide instructions at a depth that maximizes thestudent's ability to use the software with a minimum risk of failure.
• The focus in teaching each topic should be on (1) the application of the topic to a specific problem, (2) the interpretation of results, (3) the presentation of assumptions, (4) the evaluation of the assumptions, and (5) the discussion of what should be done if the assumptions are violated. These points are particularly important in regression and forecasting and in hypothesis testing. Although the illustration of some computations is inevitable, the focus on computations should be minimized.
• Both classroom examples and homework exercises should relate to actual or realistic data as much as possible. Students should be encouraged to look beyond the statistical analysis of data to the interpretation of results in an applied context, preferably through the use of case studies.

This philosophy led us to develop Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft^® Excel and MINITAB^®. Designed as an introductory text in statistics for students with a background in college algebra, our text contains the following features that distinguish it from the many other statistics texts available.

"By Example" Introduction of Concepts

Each new idea is introduced and illustrated by real data-based examples taken from a wide variety of disciplines and sources. These examples demonstrate how to solve various types of statistical problems encountered in the real world. We believe that students better understand definitions, generalizations, and concepts after seeing a real application. Each example is set off for easy identification and contains a full, detailed solution to the problem.

The spreadsheet application Microsoft Excel and the statistical software MINITAB are integrated throughout the entire text. Many texts published and revised in the past twenty years have incorporated the use of popular statistical software packages such as SAS, SPSS, and MINITAB. Few, however, have successfully integrated Excel. With the increasing functionality and power of worksheet applications, virtually all kinds of statistical analyses taught in the introductory course can now be supported by Excel and the statistics add-in provided with this text (PHStat2). In addition to its possible use in a statistics course, students

Emphasis on Critical Thinking and Interpretation of Computer Output

Both Excel- and MINITAB-generated graphs and output accompany every statistical technique presented, allowing instructors to focus on the statistical analysis of data and the interpretation of the results rather than the calculations required to obtain the results. Free from memorizing formulas and performing hand calculations, students are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills that will allow them to realize greater success in the workplace. Examples on hand calculations are provided for those instructors who desire flexibility in teaching the course.

Tutorials on Using Microsoft Excel and MINITAB

For the novice, The Excel Primer provides basic instruction on using Windows and Microsoft Excel and The MINITAB Primer provides basic instruction on using MINITAB. Excel and MINITAB Tutorials appear at the end of pertinent chapters and give step-by-step instructions and screen shots for using the applications to perform the statistical techniques presented in the chapter.

All data sets that are stored in the Excel and MINITAB directories on the CD that accompanies the text are identified with a CD-ROM icon and the name is provided.

Statistics Add-In for Microsoft Excel: PHStat

The CD-ROM that accompanies the text also includes PHStat2, the latest version of PHStat, Prentice Hall's statistical add-in for Microsoft Excel for Windows. PHStat2 minimizes the work associated with setting up statistical solutions in Microsoft Excel by automating the creation of worksheets and charts. PHStat2, in combination with Excels Data Analysis Too1PAK add-in and table and chart wizards, allows users to perform statistical analyses on virtually all topics covered in an introductory statistics course. (Compared to its predecessor, PHStat2 contains a number of new or enhanced procedures and now includes a full help system for easy reference. For more information about PHStat2, see Appendix E.)

"Statistics in the Real World" Application in Each Chapter

Each chapter opens with a real-world application and data set to motivate the material presented in the chapter and to provide a real-life context for learning statistics. The "Statistics in the Real World" problem is revisited throughout the chapter in relevant sections. At the end of each of these sections, the data set is analyzed using the method presented in the section and relevant conclusions are drawn from the analysis.

Built-In Study Guide

The following features are incorporated throughout the text to help students learn and retain new ideas:

• Self-test questions appear immediately after important ideas have been introduced to test the student's comprehension of the concept and to help develop good study habits. Answers given in the Appendix allow students to check their work.
• Summary boxes are set off to provide step-by-step instructions for the statistical techniques presented.
• Side notes provide additional explanations of key ideas adjacent to where the concept is first referenced.
• Each chapter ends with a list of Key Terms, Formulas, and Symbols with page references that guide the student back to the text in order to review the element in context.
• Each chapter begins with a set of Objectives. Students can determine if the objectives have been met by answering a series of Checking Your Understanding questions at the end of the chapter.

Topical Coverage at the Introductory Level

This text includes all the topics covered in a basic introductory statistics course, including data collection (Chapter 1), descriptive statistics (Chapters 2 and 3), probability and probability distributions (Chapters 4 - 6), confidence intervals (Chapters 7 and 9), hypothesis tests (Chapters 8 and 9), regression (Chapter 10), and analysis of variance (Chapter 11). A minimal amount of probability is presented, allowing more time for instructors to teach statistical inference (Chapters 7-11). Unique to this introductory text is a section on proper graphical presentation (Section 2.6), which promotes E. R. Tufte's principles of graphical excellence.

New to This Edition

The second edition of Practical Statistics by Example Using Microsoft^® Excel and MINITAB^® includes a number of additions and enhancements:

• Chapter 1—Collecting Internet Data. Section 1.4 now includes a discussion and example on obtaining data available via the Internet.
• Chapter 2—Dot Plots. We've added dot plots as another method for graphing quantitative data in Section 2.3.
• Chapter 5—Binomial Tables. In addition to obtaining binomial probabilities using Excel and MINITAB, we demonstrate how to use cumulative binomial tables.
• Chapter 6—Normal Approximation to the Binomial. A new section (Section 6.4) has been added on using the normal distribution to approximate binomial probabilities.
• Chapter 8—Testing Category Probabilities for a Qualitative Variable. The chi-square goodness of fit test for category probabilities of a single qualitative variable is now included in Section 8.9.
• Chapters 9-11—Integration of Nonparametric Methods. The following nonparametric tests (in Chapter 12 of the previous edition) are now integrated as optional sections in the chapters with their parametric alternatives: Wilcoxon rank sum test (Section 9.7), Wilcoxon signed ranks test (Section 9.8), Spearman's rank correlation test (Section 10.13), and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA test (Section 11.8).
• PHStat2—The latest version of the PHStat statistics add-in now includes additional features relating to tables and charts, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, and regression, along with a help system.
• MINITAB Tutorials—The second edition of the text now includes MINITAB tutorials in addition to Excel tutorials at the end of each chapter.

Supplements for the Instructor

Each element in the package has been accuracy-checked to ensure clarity, adherence to the approaches presented in the main text, and freedom from computational, typographical, and statistical errors.

Instructor's Solutions Manual
(by Mark Dummeldinger) (ISBN 0-13-041587-1). Complete solutions to all even-numbered problems are provided in this manual. Manual solutions are most frequently provided for the "Using the Tools" problems while a combination of hand and Excel solutions are presented for the "Applying the Concepts" problems. Solutions are also provided for the Statistics in the Real World application that begins each chapter. Solutions to the odd-numbered problems are found in the Student's Solutions Manual.

Test Bank
(by Tom Bratcher) (ISBN 0-13-041580-4). The Test Bank offers a full complement of more than 1,000 additional problems that correlate to exercises presented in the text. Microsoft Word^™ files for this Test Bank are available from the publisher.

TestGen EQ Computerized Test Bank
(ISBN 0-13-041586-3)

Data Files
Data files for most problems and for the Statistics in the Real World applications are contained on the CD-ROM that is packaged with each copy of the text. When a given data set is referenced, a disk icon with the file name will appear in the text near the exercise. The data files may also be downloaded from the World Wide Web.

Companion Web Site
The Companion Web site provides self-scoring quizzes, an online syllabus maker, technology projects, and data files for the textbook.