Data Analysis for Managers with MINITAB

Harry Roberts is both a statistical educator of considerable note and one who has been concerned for some time with the kind of statistical training received by students of business and management. Why do so many of these students find statistics irrelevant both during their years in school and afterward when they have assumed managerial positions? Is statistics as a field of study irrelevant to management or are we teaching the wrong aspects of statistics in the wrong way? Roberts et al. have considered these and other questions in papers which grew out of a conference on statistical education in business schools which was held at the University of Chicago in 1986 [1, 3]. These papers should be read by anyone interested in statistical training in business, and it would be hard to give Data Analysis a fair hearing without first considering the thoughtful arguments which they contain. Even so, since many respectable academics will have nothing to do with mere data analysis, I expect that Robert's book may fall on a good deal of inhospitable ground. Nevertheless, my own view is that this book is an excellent start toward a redefinition of what statistical training should be for the typical management student.