This book provides a new approach to statistics in plain English, and walks readers through basic concepts, as well as some of the most complex statistical models in use.

The Second Edition contains new chapters on “big data” on the one hand, and on small data situations at the other end of the spectrum; on missing data; and on effect sizes. The two "characters" in the text (a high school principal, and a director of public health) return in the Second Edition, and their needs to make sense of the data available to them have been updated with reference to contemporary concerns in the fields of education and health.