Acknowledgments

I want to thank several people for their invaluable contributions to the book.

The influence of my mentor, Jerome L. Myers, is present in virtually every (positive) aspect of this book.

My wife and colleague, Elizabeth Lorch, has taught introductory statistics for most of her academic career. We have shared ideas and materials and had endless discussions about instruction throughout our careers. She has also graciously listened and responded to many of my thoughts as I have written the book and commented on chapters when I asked her to do so. The book has benefitted directly and indirectly from her input in ways too numerous to list.

I was fortunate to have several conscientious reviewers of the book who offered many suggestions. I considered all their suggestions and implemented many of them to the improvement of the book. My thanks to:

I have taught introductory statistics to approximately 2,500 students and have worked with many graduate students who served as teaching assistants. My thinking about how to teach introductory statistics has been greatly influenced by my interactions with my students, and I thank them all for their contributions. I particularly want to acknowledge Patty Saunders for her conscientious and specific feedback on the first draft of the book. Her comments led me to adopt several features in the final draft of the book.

Finally, I want to thank my editors at FlatWorld, Sean Wakely and KB Mello, for shepherding me through the process of publishing the book. Sean’s gentle, wise counsel consistently nudged me toward a broader perspective of the audience for the book. KB made sure that the t’s were crossed and the i’s were dotted during the production of the book. My thanks to them both for their professionalism.