An Adventure in Statistics: The Reality Enigma

A better way to learn statistics—see how a story can change learning outcomes!

Shortlisted for the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers Award for Innovation in Publishing 2016!

An Adventure in Statistics: The Reality Enigma by best-selling author and award-winning teacher Andy Field offers a better way to learn statistics. It combines rock-solid statistics coverage with compelling visual story-telling to address the conceptual difficulties that students learning statistics for the first time often encounter in introductory courses—guiding students away from rote memorization and toward critical thinking and problem solving.

Field masterfully weaves in a unique, action-packed story starring Zach, a character designed to think like a student who processes information, and the challenges of understanding it, the way a statistics novice would. Illustrated with stunning graphic-novel style art and featuring Socratic dialogue, the story captivates readers as it introduces them to concepts, eliminating potential statistics anxiety.

Providing a vibrant alternative to the dullness of many typical offerings, the book assumes no previous statistics knowledge nor does it require the use of data analysis software. It covers the material you would expect for an introductory level statistics course that Field’s other books (Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics and Discovering Statistics Using R) only touch on, but with a contemporary twist, laying down strong foundations for understanding classical and Bayesian approaches to data analysis.

In doing so, it provides an unrivalled launch pad to further study, research, and inquisitiveness about the real world, equipping students with the skills to succeed in their chosen degree and which they can go on to apply in the workplace.

 Key Features

• Compelling graphic novel-style story and illustrations (by an illustrator from the Doctor Who show) introduce and apply statistics concepts gradually, keeping students engaged from the start. Readers are so enthralled by the story and the characters that they “forget” how much they are learning along the way!
• Accessible pedagogy and style directly tackle student confusion by explaining concepts in an easy-to-grasp manner. Students learn things in a sensible order and build up their knowledge; in doing so they understand the material better.
• “Student-to-student” approach addresses the conceptual difficulties that students learning statistics for the first time often encounter because the main character in the story is designed to think like a student who processes information, and the challenges of understanding it, the same way a statistics novice would—guiding readers away from rote memorization and toward critical thinking.
• Socratic dialogue in the story helps students understand the basics behind even the more complex statistical concepts, reinforcing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Approachable material takes the fear out of statistics and does not require math expertise, previous statistics knowledge, or use of data analysis software.
• Beginning-of-chapter sections introduce concepts for the first time and tell students where to focus their attention.
• In the Next Chapter, Zach Discovers sections offer a sneak preview of what comes next.
• Reality Check features explain new concepts in an easy-to-understand, unintimidating way.
• Check your Brain exercises throughout the chapters offer opportunities for students to apply what they’ve learned, enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Figure boxes in the margins bring concepts to life as they direct readers to visual representations of the material without interrupting the flow of the narrative.
• Zach’s Facts recap chapter key concepts and offer another opportunity for targeted review.
• Milton’s Meowsings promote critical thinking and include humorous letters (from Professor Milton Grey to Zach, the main character) giving more insight into how students could approach solving different statistical questions and how those approaches affect the outcome.
• Key Terms at the end of each chapter help strengthen important, newly learned concepts.
• Jig:Saw’s Puzzles give students a chance to further test their understanding of statistical concepts and work through problems at their own pace.

Related Products:

• Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics, Fourth Edition
• Discovering Statistics Using R  
• Discovering Statistics Using SAS

Andy Field is Professor of Quantitative Methods at the University of Sussex. He has published widely (100+ research papers, 29 book chapters, and 17 books in various editions) in the areas of child anxiety and psychological methods and statistics. His current research interests focus on barriers to learning mathematics and statistics.

He is internationally known as a statistics educator. He has written several widely used statistics textbooks including Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics (winner of the 2007 British Psychological Society book award), Discovering Statistics Using R, and An Adventure in Statistics (shortlisted for the British Psychological Society book award, 2017; British Book Design and Production Awards, primary, secondary and tertiary education category, 2016; and the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers Award for innovation in publishing, 2016), which teaches statistics through a fictional narrative and uses graphic novel elements. He has also written the adventr and discovr packages for the statistics software R that teach statistics and R through interactive tutorials.

His uncontrollable enthusiasm for teaching statistics to psychologists has led to teaching awards from the University of Sussex (2001, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019), the British Psychological Society (2006) and a prestigious UK National Teaching fellowship (2010).

He′s done the usual academic things: had grants, been on editorial boards, done lots of admin/service but he finds it tedious trying to remember this stuff. None of them matter anyway because in the unlikely event that you′ve ever heard of him it′ll be as the ′Stats book guy′. In his spare time, he plays the drums very noisily in a heavy metal band, and walks his cocker spaniel, both of which he finds therapeutic.