Page 19 - Statistics II for Dummies

Introduction 3

What You’re Not to Read

At times I get into some of the more technical details of formulas and pro-
cedures for those individuals who may need to know about them — or just
really want to get the full story. These minutiae are marked with a Technical
Stuff icon. I also include sidebars as an aside to the essential text, usually
in the form of a real-life statistics example or some bonus info you may find
interesting. You can feel free to skip those icons and sidebars because you
won’t miss any of the main information you need (but by reading them, you
may just be able to impress your stats professor with your above-and-beyond
knowledge of Stats II!).

Foolish Assumptions

Because this book deals with Stats II, I assume you have one previous course
in introductory statistics under your belt (or at least have read Statistics For
Dummies), with topics taking you up through the Central Limit Theorem
and perhaps an introduction to confidence intervals and hypothesis tests
(although I review these concepts briefly in Chapter 3). Prior experience with
simple linear regression isn’t necessary. Only college algebra is needed for
the mathematics details. And, some experience using statistical software is a
plus but not required.

As a student, you may be covering these topics in one of two ways: either at
the tail end of your Stats I course (perhaps in a hurried way, but in some way
nonetheless); or through a two-course sequence in statistics in which the
topics in this book are the focus of the second course. If so, this book
provides you the information you need to do well in those courses.

You may simply be interested in Stats II from an everyday point of view, or
perhaps you want to add to your understanding of studies and statistical
results presented in the media. If this sounds like you, you can find plenty of
real-world examples and applications of these statistical techniques in action
as well as cautions for interpreting them.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into five major parts that explore the main topic areas
in Stats II, along with one bonus part that offers a series of quick top-ten
references for you to use. Each part contains chapters that break down the

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