Basic Statistics for Business and Economics 9th Edition

Book Preface

WHAT’S NEW IN THE NINTH EDITION?
We have made many changes to examples and exercises throughout the text. The section on “Enhancements” to our text details them. There are two major changes to the  text. First, the chapters have been reorganized so that each section corresponds to a  learning objective. The learning objectives have been revised.

The second major change responds to user interest in the area of data analytics.  Our approach is to provide instructors and students with the opportunity to combine  statistical knowledge, computer and statistical software skills, and interpretative and  critical thinking skills. A set of new and revised exercises is included at the end of each  chapter in a section titled “Data Analytics.”

In these sections, exercises refer to three data sets. The North Valley Real Estate  sales data set lists 105 homes currently on the market. The Lincolnville School District  bus data list information on 80 buses in the school district’s bus fleet. The authors designed these data so that students will be able to use statistical software to explore the  data and find realistic relationships in the variables. The Baseball Statistics for the 2016  season is updated from the previous edition.

The intent of the exercises is to provide the basis of a continuing case analysis. We  suggest that instructors select one of the data sets and assign the corresponding exercises as each chapter is completed. Instructor feedback regarding student performance  is important. Students should retain a copy of each chapter’s results and interpretations  to develop a portfolio of discoveries and findings. These will be helpful as students  progress through the course and use new statistical techniques to further explore the  data. The ideal ending for these continuing data analytics exercises is a comprehensive  report based on the analytical findings.

We know that working with a statistics class to develop a very basic competence in  data analytics is challenging. Instructors will be teaching statistics. In addition, instructors will be faced with choosing statistical software and supporting students in developing or enhancing their computer skills. Finally, instructors will need to assess student  performance based on assignments that include both statistical and written components. Using a mentoring approach may be helpful.  We hope that you and your students find this new feature interesting and engaging.