INVESTIGATING STATISTICAL CONCEPTS, APPLICATIONS, AND METHODS, Fourth Edition

 

Changes Fall 2025

 

Major Changes

·       Reworked Investigation A (only describing data) and added Investigation C (modelling).

o   Investigation A includes discussion of standard deviation and standardizing.

o   PP A has them use technology to explore the mean and median

·       Investigation B expanded definition of random process slightly

o   Added PP B.C (variability in profit in Roulette bets)

·       Chapter 1 Sections 1 and 2 now only use language of random process rather than population.

o   Variables, Parameter, Statistic, Sample and sample size are still defined

o   Questions about observational units have been removed, inside should describe the random process/realizations

o   Beginning of Inv 1.1 and others slightly reworked (e.g., describe process rather than observation units)

·       Chapter 2 now includes initial reference/comparisons of skewness statistic

·       Term “test statistic” was changed to “standardized statistic” in many places (or added)

 

Minor changes

·       R workspace has been modified slightly

o   Student instructions/output largely unchanged, but can now use ?command to open a help page.

o   Some input labels (e.g., xlab) better parallel base R

o   Instructions for calculating a prediction interval in R now included (also now in TOS applet)

·       JMP commands, especially in Ch. 1 have been slightly revised for clarity

·       JMP instructions for power calculations updated

·       PP 1.4A slightly revised

·       Added PP 1.4C

·       Inv 1.10 was slightly revised and now includes comparison to the Blaker method and more explicit comparisons of average width

·       Power Simulation applet allows for non-integer rejection regions with the normal approximation

·       Investigation 1.12 tries to better differentiate population vs. process and sample/sample size parallels in terminology

·       Investigation 2.1 updated to 2024 data

·       Investigation 3.1 reordered (i)-(k)

·       KYDerby25.txt updated

·       Anthemtimes2025.txt updated

·       Values for Inv 1.17 were updated

·       Investigation 4.2 (NBA Salaries) data updated

 

Changes Winter 2025

 

Major changes

·       Replacement for Investigation A

o   Moved some definitions to beginning of Inv 1.1

o   Rewording PP 1.4A and PP 2.9

o   Added PP B.C with ideas from both Inv A and Inv B

·       Optional online data collection for Investigation 1.12

o   Sampling Words data collection (Create class link)

o   Instructor’s notes

·       Optional: Change context (study article) for Investigation 3.4 and Investigation 5.5

o   doc

o   Simulated data

o   Instructor’s notes 3.4 5.5

 

Minor changes

·       Fall 2024 errata

·       Updated some Minitab commands

·       Updated Investigation 2.1 to 2023 data

·       The Theory-Based Inference applet now reports a prediction interval with the confidence interval in the One Mean scenario

·       Reworked Investigation 5.1 to initially only use applet (new applet simulates independent random samples from binomial processes)

 

Changes Fall 2024

 

Major changes

·       Changed method for calculating two-sided p-values for Binomial distributions (ala Blaker) which also impacts “exact binomial confidence intervals”

o   This now matches a change to Minitab but not R. Clopper-Pearson method is still discussion as an option.

·       Revised/Replaced several Practice Problems (PP1.2A, PP 1.3B, 1.3C, PP 1.4A, B, PP 1.7B, PP 1.9B, added(c), PP 2.1A, B, PP 3.6C, PP 4.2A, PP 4.3B(a), PP 4.4A, PP 4.5A)

 

Minor changes

·       Small wording changes, mostly Ch. 1-2

·       Investigation 1.2 (added (o))

·       Investigation 1.3 (added (i) and (s))

·       Investigation 1.9 (mostly slightly reordering questions)

·       Investigation 1.18, updated to 2024

·       Investigation 2.1, updated to 2022 data

·       Updated some Minitab instructions, trying to accommodate both current Desktop version and Web app.

·       Re-added some missing technology instruction summaries (end of chapter)

 

Changes Winter 2024

·       Fixed typos from Fall 2023

·       Updated some Minitab instructions

·       Replaced Investigation 5.9

·       Added Practice Problem 2.5C

 

Changes Fall 2023

·       Revised Investigation 1.5

·       Expanded Investigation 1.16 (optional)

·       Updated data for Investigation 2.1

·       Replaced Example 3.2

·       Minor edits/typos/formatting

·       PP 5.6, link to most recent data

·       New: Water usage survey

·       Ch. 1 HW: new FCI data (MLB)

 

Changes Fall 2022 (4th edition)

 

Major changes

·       New context for Investigation 1.2

·       New context for Investigation 1.5 (old Inv 1.2)

·       Delayed discussion of power until after normal approximation (now Investigation 1.11)

·       Reordered Investigations 1.13-1.16

·       Revised Investigation 1.13    

·       Revised Investigation 1.7 and is optional

·       Reworked parts of Investigation 3.1

·       Worked in new version of Inv 4.8/4.9           

 

Minor changes

·       Fixed typos, updated solutions

·       Revised/Added some practice problems, updated solutions

·       Updated many of the applets, technology instructions

·       Added exact binomial option and graph of CI widths to Simulating Confidence Intervals applet

·       Fleshed out bootstrapping instructions in Investigation 2.9

·       Rewrote some of the discussion in Investigation 4.5

·       Added direct links to many of the research studies

·       Added some optional links (e.g., random variable algebra, df approximation)

·       Listed chapter summaries in chapter toc’s

·       Changed cover

 

Changes Fall 2021

 

Major changes

·       Merged Inv 3.3 and 3.4 into one

 

Minor changes

·       Editing of Investigation A, Investigations 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.10, 4.5

·       Editing of a few practice problems

·       Editing of 1.11 Probability Exploration to be more stand-alone

·       Editing of 1.14 to work in finite population correction factor

·       Correcting typos, formula displays

·       Updated NBA data, provided alternative shopping data

 

Changes Winter 2021

 

Major changes

·       New Investigation A (context recurs as a practice problem in Ch. 2)

·       Revised Investigation 1.12 to focus on proportion of short words, earlier use of applet

·       New Investigation 1.15

·       Reworked Investigation 3.10

·       Changed context for Investigations 4.8/4.9

·       Added new Example 4.4

 

Minor changes

·       Editing of Investigations 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

·       Editing of Investigation 1.7 and Probability Exploration (normal approximation for power), updates to Power Simulation applet

·       Editing of Investigation 1.14

·       Updated data in Example 1.3

·       Investigation 2.4: Applet allows all 3 columns pasted in at once

·       Added visuals to Investigation 2.6

·       Added applet option to Investigation 2.9

·       Removed a question from 3.10 and resequenced questions slightly

·       Revised Investigation 4.1

·       Revised some discussion of pooled t-test and randomization tests (4.5)

·       Replaced some practice problems

·       Moved JMP/Minitab scripts online

·       Conversion of more “equations”

 

Changes Fall 2020

 

Major changes


Minor changes

 

Changes Fall 2019

 

Minor changes

·       Fixed errata, inconsistencies

·       Updated Investigation 3.9 Technology Detour

·       Updated data for PP 5.6 (KYDerby)

·       Updated data for Investigation 5.7 (golfers18)

·       Updated time conversion for Example 5.3

·       Updated Minitab instructions for version 19

 

Changes Fall 2018

 

Major changes

 

Minor changes

 

Changes Fall 2017

 

Minor changes

·       Fixed typos from errata page

·       Added a few questions and commentary to Investigation 4.7

·       Solutions to Investigation 4.2 updated

 

Changes Summer 2017

 

Main changes:

·       Revised Investigation 1.7 (including fixing some applet errors for normal approximation)

·       New context for Investigation 3.9 (same questions but now original null distribution is a bit more skewed)

 

Minor changes:

·       Fixed typos from errata page

·       Updated data for Investigation 1.17

·       Updated data for Investigation 1.18

·       Updated data for Investigation 4.2

 

Changes Summer 2016

 

Main change:

·       Adding instruction option for JMP

·       Tailoring of more output in Examples to technology version

·       Fewer references to all technology options

·       Some reformatting of summary boxes and tables

·       Added JMP scripts

·       Other changes:

·       Adding a set of 25 online quizzes used from Winter 2016

·       Minor reworking of a few questions in Investigation B

·       Minor edits to PP 1.1A

·       Addition of new Investigation 1.2 for binomial practice ( ≠ .5)

·       Technology instructions

·       Includes brief introduction to standardization

·       Includes transition to number of SDs (deleted previous questions on SD for binary variable)

·       Renumbering of activities

·       Minor edits to (now) Investigation 1.5

·       Streamlined Investigation 1.7 (power)

·       Included direct technology instructions at end (binomial)

·       Minor edits to  (now) Investigation 1.8 (reeses)

·       Included explicit definition of empirical rule

·       Combined previous Investigations 1.8/1.9 for practice applying CLT to one proportion z-test

·       Added optional Probability exploration calculating power with normal distribution

·       Can be expanded to power curves

·       Added conf sim applet exploration of finite correction factor with one proportion

·       Minor reworking of Invs 2.5 and 2.6

·       Renamed Turbidity data file

·       Added question in Inv 3.6, relettered

·       Deleted question in Inv 3.7, relettered

·       Minor reworking in Inv 4.1

·       Added CI interpretation to Inv 4.5

·       Reworked Inv 4.11

·       Reworked Chapter 5, Section 1

·       Expanded (now) Inv 5.1A to compare 3 populations

·       Added Inv 5.2 – randomized experiment

·       Moved applet explorations into main investigation

·       Minor reworking of Inv 5.4 (center on applet exploration) and Inv 5.5

 

Changes for the Third Edition:

The main change is moving material on one quantitative variable to be a stand-alone chapter two.  In the second edition, students could be 2/3 of the way through the course before they see quantitative data and this can impact the range of data collection projects they can complete earlier in the course.  We tried to keep the materials flexible so an instructor could still use a Ch. 1 – Ch. 3 – Ch. 2 – Ch. 4 type sequence.  To “liven up” the perhaps review discussion of quantitative data, we included some more data manipulation topics like subsetting, data transformations, and assessing model fit.  We also included a new “Investigation A” that explores an interesting dataset to get students thinking about distributions of data including standard deviation and standardization. We want this to be a fairly quick overview of ideas to come that gets them thinking about these data issues early on.  We also expanded Investigation B a bit to allow instructors who want to go more in depth with random variables.  Again, we still want this to be a quick overview. 

 

To compensate for these additions we did try to better streamline some later topics like Section 3.4.  Some material that has been deleted will be moved to homework exercises.  Some of the more mathematical derivations, short explorations, and practice problems, can also be utilized as out of class investigations.

 

We have also tried to better call out the distinction between simulations of random sampling vs. random assignment, and how that can impact the choice of standard error. (This includes a new simulation of two independent samples with quantitative data from finite populations and an optional investigation briefly introducing bootstrapping.) We moved much of the Westvaco example to an initial exploratory activity (to start Ch. 4) for comparing groups to help transition between comparing proportions to comparing means. In Ch. 5, the applet now also allows comparison of random shuffling to random sampling from a population matching the sample’s characteristics.

 

We have updated the Minitab instructions to match Minitab 17 and added some more functionality to the R functions (e.g., returning data values that can be accessed in R Markdown).  The applets are now all javascript and we have added a little bit more functionality and a t probability calculator. If there is interest in a JMP version and/or a Minitab Express version, please let us know.