For algebra-based Introductory Statistics Courses.

The overarching goal of this text is to empower students to be statistical thinkers

Alan Agresti and Chris Franklin have merged their research expertise, as well as their extensive real-world and teaching experience, to develop a new introductory statistics text that makes students statistically literate, while encouraging them to ask and answer interesting statistical questions. The authors have successfully crafted a text that takes the ideas that have turned statistics into a central science in modern life and makes them accessible and engaging to students without compromising necessary rigor.

The varied and data-rich examples and exercises place heavy emphasis on thinking about and understanding statistical concepts.  The applications are topical and current and successfully illustrate the relevance of statistics.

The authors understand that most of the real-world data that students encounter outside the class room are categorical data.  Unlike many texts at this level, Agresti/Franklin incorporates categorical data where appropriate and draws distinctions between theory and practical application of statistical ideas and methods.

The text was written, from the ground up, to embrace and support the 6 recommendations of the ASA endorsed GAISE (Guidelines for Assessment for Instruction in Statistical Education) Report - http://www.amstat.org/education/gaise/GAISECollege.htm:

• Emphasize statistical literacy and develop statistical thinking.
• Use real data.
• Stress conceptual understanding rather than mere knowledge of procedures.
• Foster active learning in the classroom.
• Use technology for developing  concepts and analyzing data.
• Use assessment to evaluate and improve student learning.

Comes with a CD containing data sets, additional activities, and applets.  The CD with the IE, furthermore, includes Instructor-to-Instructor videos which further detail, by chapter, the authors approach and provides suggestions on how to present concepts. These Instructor-to-Instructor videos are very complimentary to the IE chapter introductions.