ABSTRACT
This book largely covers the field that is generally referred to as ‘statistics’, but as our Preface has sought to establish, we have departed in a number of respects from the way in which this subject is conventionally taught to under-and postgraduates. In particular, our preferences are for integrating data analysis with computing skills and for not burdening the student with formulae. These predilections constitute a departure from many, if not most, treatments of this subject. We prefer the term ‘quantitative data analysis’ because the emphasis is on the understanding and analysis of data rather than on the precise nature of the statistical techniques themselves.
