I am working on my degree and need to take a statistics course. I figured out that I don't have the time to learn the material and do the homework at the same time. I can't just learn it for the sake of getting through the class - although I kind of wish I could. My plan is to learn statistics and then enroll for the semester when I'm ready. Does anyone have good book they recommend for learning basic college statistics? My not learning is not the college professor's fault. I am ADHD and such an out of the box thinker that I have found college textbooks difficult to follow. Tutors have been just as difficult because many teach the way the college textbooks are written - technical with no immediate practical application. Does anyone know of one book that has been a great resource and/or different from the rest?
Can I just say how awesome you are! Your suggestions are fantastic. I will look into all of them. This course has been a difficult process for me as I don't always know what I don't understand. There is a fine gray line between utter confusion and eureka! As a high school student I was told girls don't usually understand math and that I wouldn't be needing it very much. I didn't overcome that very well. At 32, I went back to school to study basic math and realized I really like math. I want to pass that on to my daughter. Thank you very much :)
Khan Academy is a good resource. You can set yourself up in the education section, and earn points and badges for completing lessons and watching videos which makes it a little more fun and may be just the thing your ADHD self needs. :)
Also, check out the open courseware from MIT and Carnegie Mellon. Both put courses online, complete with lecture notes and videos, that they offer at their campuses - for free.
Good luck!
Have you thought about auditing a class before signing up and paying for it? Most colleges allow this if the professor is ok with it. You'll get all the lectures without the expectation of doing all the work and testing. As an added bonus, you may find a prof that is a good match for your learning style.
Check out Kahn Academy online. They offer free college level lectures online on just about every topic that would be taught in college. Alot of homeschoolers use this site to supplement their curriculum. The courses are complete enough you could cover an entire course at your pace as if you had taken a class.
If you are a visual or auditory learner, this might be the ticket.
I don't have a great resource for basic stats, but when you are ready, Advanced and Multivariate Statistical Methods by Mertler & Vannatta is fantastic. Also, I have found Pryczak Publishing has a lot of great resources.
Good luck!
I used a book in college called "Statistics for people (who think) they hate statistics"
It was used in a journalism statistics course for us to be able to understand applications and how to "call out" poor or bad data that could be fed to us by companies, etc. As a PR person I used it as a way to make sure I provided good and usefull statistics.
You know what Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics."
Try the AP Stats teacher at the HIgh School and see if he tutors or if one of his star students will tutor you, THey can come up with some pretty fresh ideas. If they are juniors or sophomores they can get community service hours for it.
My daughter used the Barron's AP Statistics Book and flashcards. YOu can get them at the bookstores, Barnes and Noble, etc. I bet Amazon has them too. THe flaschcards were especially useful.
I am ADHD and had no trouble with the college course. Have you looked into what your learning style is and if you have then I say you had a bad professor.
My first stats class I had a great professor, at the local community college no less. Stats should be like breathing to someone with ADHD it is right up our alley so that is why I think you do have a professor issue.
Now the advanced class I took as part of my university course, my god I couldn't have got a worse professor if I had set out to do so. Still did well in the class but at one point I wanted to yell out in class could you please shut up so I can read the textbook and actually understand what you are teaching cause you don't make a damn bit of sense and I am good at this!!!
All stats are is math. They are formulas that arrive at different groupings put together you find statistical relations. They may not make sense to you because there is one thing about stats that is very illogical, what you hold constant effects the outcome. In other words regardless of data you can make the outcome anything you want. Unethical but do able.
Oh, I forget the main reason I posted, I do stats for work. I tried to find a book just so I can remember all the terms since my program does all the thinking. Not a damn thing out there!! I looked! My work would have paid for the ruddy thing regardless of price, heck the program cost 5,000, ya know? Nothing!!
I really think it's all about a great professor willing to take time to slow down to make sure you understand. I had an AWESOME professor last fall - HIs name is John Wright at Brookhaven - I think you should really consider him. He was very patient and thorough!
