Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data

by Michael Sullivan III

Michael Sullivan’s Informed Decisions Using Data, Third Edition , connects statistical concepts to readers’ lives, helping them to think critically, become informed consumers, and make better decisions. Throughout the book, “Putting It Together” features help readers visualize the relationships among various statistical concepts. This feature extends to the exercises, providing a consistent vision of the bigger picture of statistics. This is a standalone book, if you want the book and access code order the ISBN 032174442X / 9780321744425 Informed Decisions Using Data Plus MyStatLab Student Access Code Card Package consists 0321431308 / 9780321431301 MyMathLab/MyStatLab -- Glue-in Access Card 0321568028 / 9780321568021 Informed Decisions Using Data 0321654064 / 9780321654069 MyMathLab Inside Star Sticker

Genres: Textbooks, Mathematics, School, College, Nonfiction

928 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2003

About the author

Mike Sullivan III is a professor of mathematics at Joliet Junior College. He holds graduate degrees from DePaul University in both mathematics and economics. Mike is an author or co-author on more than 20 books, including a statistics book and a developmental mathematics series.

Son of Professor of Mathematics Michael Sullivan.

Reviews

[Eve O. Spellman · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF because this was for a college course and I read only what I needed to.

- * = Poor explaining
- * = Quite boring
- * = Powerpoints are almost useless

[Isabelle reads a book a day because she has no friends]

Someone please SAVE ME

[Mel Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Statistics is an important and practical subject, and Sullivan does a great job bringing in a variety of concrete examples of application. In fact there are always more than enough practice exercises. I'm not going to give a full review, but note a couple key observations.
We were working from a hard and softcover edition, and they differed in the number of chapters and topics included. I did not discover this until we were underway.
There were some times when I had a hard time understanding what Sullivan was trying to communicate formulaically even when I thought I understood the concept. I prefer Salman Khan's approach of explaining the intuition, and using the formula if it helps. I certainly consulted Khan Academy and other resources to get through this book at home with my kids. Some of the applications of standard deviation were challenging for me. I really appreciated having the teacher's edition solutions for half of the problems.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used with Lumerit Education/CollegePlus!'s Statistics class (Avoid at all costs; this class is a wreck.)

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The online portion and class course can be manageable, but the book itself it terrible for anyone who is totally new to statistics. It explains everything in the most math-savvy way possible. Which you’d think makes sense, right? Well if you don’t know half the terms in a vital point of explanation, you are going to be lost for a good while rummaging through chapters or Google just to understand the meaning of a sentence, and thats if the way it is worded isn't over the top. If i were to generalize the way the book explains everything, imagine if someone wrote the book exactly as a normal person would, and then someone else took the whole book and switched out half the words for less commonly used words off of thesaurus.com and key words at the end of chapters from other chapters/books in order to save word space. You're left with something that primarily only makes sense to people who already have a strong understanding of the subject. the book should open the opportunity to teach yourself where another person cannot, but this book does no such thing. If you have a confusing professor, i sincerely hope you have the means and the resources to learn from something other than the book.

[Pete · Rating 2 out of 5]

———————————2.5/5 stars———————————
It’s not just that statistics is a terrible class, I just hate the way textbooks are written when they can explain concepts in more plain terms. I do like that it includes instructions for ti 83/84, minitab, and excel though. Some things weren’t completely explained, and it took me a while to understand where they were coming from in some examples.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say I really liked this book, because I really don't like the subject matter. I took statistics about 20 years ago and really hated it. I just took it again for a different degree program, and I have to say that this particular text made statistics more enjoyable than the first time around. The text was easy to follow, and the online component was a great learning tool.

[Carla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful! I don't ever want to look at this book again.

[Brain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have about 5-6 books on statistics and teach data analysis on occasion. I find I keep coming back to this one often. I like the older versions.

[Emily Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This textbook was assigned by my stats teacher. His lectures were sufficient so I didn't use the book as much as I thought I might.

[hallie · Rating 1 out of 5]

hated this

poorly organized. NOT user friendly in the slightest. needed more page references to the frequently used charts to help you more easily navigate this behemoth. wouldn’t recommend.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't the exact book but it's the closest I could find. The one I'm reading is a custom edition for my school. I wasn't a fan of this book but only because it has to do with math and I am TERRIBLE at math.

[Amg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will change your mind about the subject.

[Guitarfeak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your basic college statistic book.

[Steven Sanderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A basic stats book that is very reader friendly

[Jennifer Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, this wasn't the best-written text book... for many concepts, I ended up just going to khanacademy.com to get a better explanation.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I survived math from Hail :)