5 comments about Multivariate Data Analysis (6th Edition).

1. Over the course of my undergrad, grad, and post grad, I have read a variety of statistics books. Without a doubt, Hair's Multivariate Data Analysis is THE BEST book of them all. Here is a brief outline of the awesome features of the book:
   
   1. The book itself is very well organized - chapter order and the order within each chapter helps the reader in knowing what is coming next and provides a sense of direction. I think this is a very important feature for any book to have especially when the topics are complex and are discussed over 800 odd pages.
   
   2. The HBAT data set that comes along with the book (or that is provided by the instructor of the course depending on the version of the book you purchase) is really a very good resource. All multivariate techniques in the book can be carried out using this data set. The data set is clearly explained at the end of the first chapter.
   
   3. Tables of examples, the 'Rules of thumb" after each important concept discussion prove invaluable. This is akin to the managerial implication written at the end of lenghty academic articles. This is almost like saying - Here is the deal folks.....Much precise than the summary section, in bullet points, these rules of thumb acts as quick referece that captures the content of the discussion.
   
   4. From chapter 4 onwards till the very end of the book, each chapter is divided into two halves - the first half is the concept dicsussion - in detail, with examples and in very simple and understandable language. The second half is the illustration of the discussed concept through a very elaborate example using the HBAT data set. This arrangement not only helps the reader in better understanding the complex concepts, but also allows the reader to get their hands dirty by actually working out.
   
   5. Keywords at the begining of each chapter provides a list of all the 'jargon' that would be used in that chapter. This list provides a detail definition of each term. Many times while reading the chapter, you would come across a confusing term and in those times the keyword list can prove invaluable.
   
   All in all, this is an invaluable book. If you are a taking stats and you have not read this book, you are missing something. In spite of all the above great things, the best feature of this book is the writing style. I have not come across a book that explains concepts is such easy to understand language but at the same time not over simplifying the subject matter.
   My advanced stats became enjoyable because of this book. Really may GOD bless these authors for writing this book!!



2. This is without question THE BEST introduction to Multivariate Statistics book currently available. It is designed for the user of the techniques, not someone who wants to examine the math underlying the techniques. I have created a collection of the various editions of this book and I have all of them going from the 1st edition to the current one. Personally I really likely the 2nd and 3rd editions but the current one is also very good. Whether you are interested in Exploratory Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis, Discriminant Analysis [I think that there should have been more on classification analysis in this section], Logistic regression, multivariate analysis of variance, conjoint analysis, cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, Confirmatory Factor Analysis or Structural Equation Modeling, this book provides a good broad overview as to how to use and interpret the techniques. The key terms for each technique are defined clearly technique by technique. Having taught faculty how to teach multivariate statistics this is the book that I chose to use. It is important to remember that it is BROAD overview and if you are going to do serious analyses that you'd likely want to get additional books about the specific technique or techniques that you are going to use.



3. I've used several texts in my Ph.D. program but this one was by far the best. While I can't speak to the completeness, as a student I have found this one to have adequate examples, well written explanations, and has served as an excellent reference work for those times when I have needed to use the statistics that I have forgotten everything about except the fact that they exist.
   
   If a prof. has made this a "recommended" (but not required) text and you are on the fence about getting it, you really should buy it - it is an investment you won't regret.



4. I have some mathematical background and a very basic statistical formation (undergrad class). I bought this book because I needed to actually do some multivariate data analysis, but I obviously bought the wrong book. For starters... the book doesn't have any equations! There are hundreds of pages of prose used to explain concepts that could have been summarized with simple formulas. This is a good book if you are interested in getting an idea of how statisticians or scientist analyze complex data sets, but I doubt it will help you to really understand the techniques, and let alone, implement them. If you are interested in actually using MVDA, then don't waste your money on this book and buy Johnson and Wichern's book instead.



5. The book was exactly like new. Great condition. The delivery was faster than expected. I like doing business with this seller.

3 comments about Essentials of Statistics for Business and Economics (with CD-ROM).

1. Product came in very good timing (just in time for my exam). Also came in an exceptional condition; did not look used one bit. Will do business again with this seller.



2. This item was in great condition and arrived on time. I would recommend that anyone buy from this seller.



3. Great Textbook (I need this book for a class). Some of the explanations could have been a bit nore straight-forward. Overall a great text book. It even assits the student with using Excel.

5 comments about Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods series).

1. dr. field has done an excellent job of making stats understandable and spss user friendly. as a social psychology grad student, i enjoy the ease of use found with the index. if i forget the differences in rotation methods for factor analysis, i can quickly find clear explanations in the book. i suggest to all grad students and advanced undergrads using spss to get a copy of this text!



2. Useful and entertaining stats books are hard to come by but this one has hit the mark! Comprehensive and clear explanations of statistical theory are provided as well as of SPSS output. Love the examples and icons. Who would have thought a stats text could make me laugh out loud?!



3. This book is perfect!! Very informative, the layout is systematically and on top of it all; statistics becomes fun. It is a pleasure to read this book!!
   Thanks to Andy Field which made my life as a PhD easier!!:O)



4. This book was an enormous help to me in writing my doctoral dissertation. Now, I am a Communications scholar and I did a content analysis, so I didn't need to master a lot of highly advanced techniques. But nor had I taken courses that taught statistics in any depth. I was feeling quite at sea on some things. And for a dissertation, you really have to understand things, so you can defend it at the end. Although I had other statistics books and they certainly were helpful, this one that walked me through the tests I had been doing and -- quite simply, with patience and good humor -- helped me to understand why they were necessary and basically how they worked. I liked the fact I could read much or as little detail as I could absorb at the time -- there are quick summaries, clearly marked, or longer, quite simple explanations for those in a hurry, as well as in-depth explanations for things you really need to know thoroughly. It was having those choices that made this book incredibly helpful.



5. This should be the first book you buy if you need help with stats and SPSS. When I first began doing empirical research I knew almost nothing about statistics or SPSS, and had to learn virtually everything I needed to know about complex multivariate tests on my own. I had suffered through many of the relevant, canonical books before I happened upon Field. It was a V-8 moment. Not only does the book explain everything in engaging, easy to understand, often hilarious terms (a favorite example is the caption of the photo of statistician Bonferroni: "Carlo Bonferroni before the celebrity of his correction lead to drink, drugs and statistics groupies"), but again and again it answered questions I had that other sources didn't address in a practical way. One example out of many is how to calculate and interpret effect sizes, which SPSS doesn't calculate for all multivariate tests, or calculates using a measure that has been widely criticized. Field describes the rationale behind several measures of effect size as well as formulas for calculating them, including clear indicators of where to find the data in SPSS output.
   
   Other reviewers have commented that this book is light on theory. I don't know enough about statistical theory to know if this is a valid criticism. But, I do think the book provides ample and detailed "whys" behind the "hows" that I haven't found elsewhere and that were necessary to help me justify the tests I run and how I interpret them. The level of detail and abstraction, in my opinion, is completely appropriate for most researchers and students.

5 comments about MBA Fundamentals Statistics (Kaplan MBA Fundamentals).

1. I teach MBA students and they often ask about a good intro to statistics. I have looked at many intro level books in the past, and most were either much too basic or assumed too much background knowledge. Thurman's book is really the Goldilocks text -- not too basic, not too complicated, just right for new MBA students.



2. I had the priviledge to study statistics with Professor Paul Thurman at Columbia University. I can honestly say he was one of the best professors I encountered at Columbia. He can teach a blind bat how to work on stata, I know because I was the equivilant of a blind bat in statistics. His course helped me learn how to use statistics in a practical manner-- helping me see the importance of stats in every day life. While not everyone has the luxury of having Professor Thurman as their professor, they can now have the next best thing, this book.



3. As a student, do you always skip the statistics part when you read a scientific article and only read the end. Well, worry no more. This book really makes you learn.
   
   I have the feeling that this book will be the next best-seller among MBA's after Graham and Dodd's Book on Value Investing.
   
   I still can't believe this book is on the market with this price. It makes me feel I have been robbed when I spent $100 on all other big text books that I barely read a chapter.



4. This book is a must-have for any aspiring MBA student. In fact, it's a must have for any business manager who wants to make real world decisions in the face of uncertainty.



5. So far, this is the only book I read every page of during my first semester.
   
   Highly recommended !!! And as said above, having a Professor Thurman as an instructor of the course is a privelege. It really is!
   
   The price is indeed surprising and he mentioned during the class that he agreed writing the book (which is actually the collection of his lecture notes) only if they made sure it was sold at a cheap price.
   
   You'll only enjoy this book!

5 comments about C++ Design Patterns and Derivatives Pricing (Mathematics, Finance and Risk).

1. Do not be put off by the above-average price/page-count multiple: it will take a lot of time and work to go through the book's 200 pages, and you won't regret the effort. This is not one's introduction to C++, nor is it a collection of ready-to-use code. Instead, the book sets out to demonstrate why you need OOP, and does that in the context of a single, progressively expanding, exercise.



2. This slim volume is totally inadequate either as a C++ book or as a derivative pricing book. (After all, how much can you cover on either topic in just 170 pages or so?) I'm not sure what purpose it really serves. It seems to require the reader to know quite a bit of C++ yet things like virtual function should already be known by the reader. This is not good as either tutorial or reference.



3. Joshi's book is practical and concise. The whole book is project-based and through step-by-step method in his book, Joshi provide a vivid view towards how to construct a pricing engine in an object-oriented way. This book forces me to think in an object-oriented way and to think about code reusability, the logics and relation between different classes I put into my pricing engine. After my first semester's intense focus on this book, I found that my codes are just a nutshell of my whole logics and my understanding to the problem I want to solve, and then codes are extensible and readable.
   
   It is not a book for reading, but rather a book for practicing. It is not an easy book. But some of my friends' interview questions are just the exercise in the book!! I would believe it is also a great book for preparing interviews.



4. This book is easy to read and hands on. Although there are a lot of excellent books which will give you an introduction to C++ for general purposes, I will still recommend this book to people who want to learn C++ for derivatives pricing.



5. Mark's book actually teaches you how to properly use classes and inheritance (virtual functions) to implement derivative pricing models in C++. The slim book is actually quite 'thick' in the sense that you need to spend some time on understanding the design and ideas behind those codes. In addtion, the second ed. includes a chapter on XLW (a package links C++ to Excel and modified by MJ). After using XLW for some time now, I have to say that it is definitely one of the best applications for financial engineering.
   
   This is the book to buy if you want to develop/improve object-oriented thinking in C++.

1 comments about Statistics: A First Course.

1. This is a very friendly statistics book. It is easy to read and understand. The authors also throw in some humorous comments now and then that is something you wouldn't expect to find in a statistics book and this seemed to help with the reading. Many real world business examples are used in the book. The example problems and the end of section or chapter problems are from different areas of study such as business, political, social sciences, and science. This is great for understanding how to apply statistics in real life. I would have to say that all the topics and formulas are explained very well. In some cases there are more then one way to write a formula and Sanders and Smidt makes a point of giving you both formulas. You can decide which formula works for you. The book comes with a CD loaded with the data files for all the problems so you don't have to spend time keying in data. There are copies of the data files come in a variety of formats such as Minitab, Excel Windows, and Macintosh. For most of the example problems the book takes you through the steps using Minitab Statistical software and the TI-83 graphing calculator. You are not only learning statistics, but you are also learning how to use Minitab and the TI-83 graphing calculator. In this day and age if you are going to do statistics you need to be able to do it with a computer. I wish they would have also included examples using Microsoft Excel, which more people are apt to have then Minitab. Personally I use both Minitab and Excel. I actually enjoyed reading this book and looked forward to studying. Even though my statistics class is over this book will not be collecting dust for a while as I plan on going back through it to reread or finish reading what I missed or skimmed over. There are still a lot of the problems that I want to do to reinforce what I have already learned. This is a great statistics book to keep as a reference. More then once I have found coworkers looking up stuff in my book.

No comments about Applied Econometrics with R (Use R).

4 comments about Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft Excel and Student CD Package (5th Edition).

1. Though I have not yet gone through the entire textbook, it does appear to be strongly oriented toward business managers. I actually purchased this book for review since I already had a graduate level statistics class about 10 years ago. I like this book because it teaches business cases. Also, the emphasis on using MS Excel was a big reason why I chose this book. One negative is that the quality of the manufacturing of this textbook is not great. I noticed a defect soon after recieving the product. However, I chose to live with the defect rather than send it back to the manufacturer.



2. This is an excellent book for Managers or anyone studying statistics.Excel 2007 is being used extensively here which is a requirement for all stats students. There are some documentation errors or bugs with the calculations but they are minore. I hope the authors will rectify them in the next version.



3. I had this book for an undergraduate Introduction to Statistics class and it was absolutely horrible.
   The book was written by statistician for statistician, not for an undergrad who just started studying Statistics.
   
   My class studied only 10 chapters out of 18. Each chapter has about 10 parts but most of the time we read only the first 3-4 parts.
   
   The formulas in the book were very hard to look up because there was no legend next to them. The legends are only available at the first part of the chapter, next to the first 1-2 formulas in that chapter.
   
   The examples in the book didn't appear very appealing and practical and were difficult to understand.
   
   In chapter 9, there was a typo with Excel, where the Excel table says Null Hypothesis p = when p should be pi (the Greek letter) but overall, Excel was very well used.
   
   I recommend using Statistical Analysis For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Statistics as reference if you have no previous knowledge of Statistics, a very confusing professor, and this textbook.



4. The Statistics material presented in this book is good. But the Excel Companion sections are too wordy. The instructions for using Excel should have been written as bullet points.
   The following items are not clear:
   (1) Exporting a pivot table as an independent worksheet
   (2) Creating new columns from a pivot table.

1 comments about Essentials of Business Statistics with Student CD (The Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series: Business Statistics and Quantitative Methods and Management Science).

1. Very reliable company, ordered using expedited shipping and received the book in 3 days. Thanks very much!

5 comments about Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions.

1. Yes, there is some good information and discussion in this book but for the price I would expect it to be more complete. For example, there is absoultely no mention of interactions between two categorical variables. I guess the authors ran out of steam. Also, the writing could have used some more refinement. I'd stick with Jaccard's volumes in the Sage Quantitative Applications series.



2. Back when the book was first published, I was completing doctoral research. Aiken & West provided the explanations and instructions that enabled me to complete my dissertation. Nowhere else have I seen the information they provide; seldom have I seen statistical treatments as clearly and easily explained. Like many in the social sciences, math was not my greatest intellectual ability. This book made computing and understanding regression interactions a relative breeze. One reviewer bemoaned the lack of information on interactions among categorical variables. I suppose he didn't read the preface that specifically explains the reason for the absence: such information is widely available in any good statistical text. What Aiken & West provide can't be found elsewhere in any real depth. I am ordering another copy of the book because I'm tired of loaning out my copy to colleagues, especially one who has now begun to copy whole chapters. Yes, it's that useful.



3. This book takes a very practical approach to the analysis of interactions in regression. No other book I've used has covered these topics as clearly or in as much depth. The extensive discussion of decomposing interactions is a prime example. With the push to replace old techniques of dichotomizing continuous variables with a continuous (regression) treatment of these variables (especially in psychology), this book is extremely important.



4. This book has revolutionized the way psychologists think about interactions. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to probe the moderating effects after you find a significant interaction in a multiple regression.

   The basic idea about interaction is that the relationship between two variables were different according to a third variable. For example, some risk factors (such as poor family income) may affect children's academic achievement in a negative way. However, if the parents provide enough support on their children's study, then it's possible that the risk factors will no longer influence their children test scores. Therefore, with low support, risk factors are very effective, but with high support, risk factors have not effects. This book teaches you how to probe this relationship in a systematic way, it covers 2-way, 3-way interactions and also quardratic relationships.

   If you fully understand this book, the techniques you have will be enough for a masters thesis in your area.




5. You need to read Jaccard and Turrisi's Interaction effects in multiple regression before reaing this book. The authors try to get too fancy with a topic that needs to be explained in a straightforward manner. Not too impressed.....