In the period since the first edition was published, I have appreciated the corre­ spondence from all parts of the world expressing thanks for the presentation of statistics from a user's perspective. It has been particularIy pleasing to have been invited to contribute to course restructuring and development based on the ap­ proach to learning and applying statistics that underlies this book. In addition, I have taken account of suggestions and criticisms, and I hope that this new edition will address all major concerns. The range of readily accessible statistical methods has greatly expanded over the past decade, particularly with the growing accessibility of comprehensive statisti­ cal computing packages. The approach adopted in this book has anticipated the changes by its emphasis on building understanding and skills in method selection and interpretation of findings. There has been a reduction in computational for­ mulas to reflect the fact that basic statistical analyses are now almost universally undertaken on computers. This has allowed the inclusion of a more general cover­ age of unifying methodology, particularly Generalized linear methodology, which permits users to more accurately match their requirements to statistical models and methods. A major addition is a chapter on the commonly used multivariate methods.

The Importance of Statistics in an Informatin Based World * Data: The Factual Information * Statistical Models: The Experimenter's View * Comparing Model and Data * Probability: A Fundamental Tool of Statistics * Some Widely Used Statistical Models * Some Important Statistics and Their Sampling Distributions * Statistical Analysis: The Statisticians' View * Examining Proportions and Success Rates * Model and Data Checking * Questions About the Average Value * Comparing Two Groups, Treatments or Processes * Comparative Studies, Surveys and Designed Experiments * Comparing More Than Two Treatments or Groups * Comparing Mean Response When There Are Three or More Treatments * Comparing Patterns of Response: Frequency Tables * Studying Relations Between Variables * Prediction and Estimation: The Role of Explanatory Variables * Questions About Variability * Cause and Effect: Statistical Perspectives * Studying Changes in Response Over Time