The main focus of the book is on presenting and illustrating methods of inferential statistics that are useful in research. It begins with a chapter on descriptive statistics that immediately exposes the reader to real data. The next six chapters develop the probability material that bridges the gap between descriptive and inferential statistics. Point estimation, inferences based on statistical intervals, and hypothesis testing are then introduced in the next three chapters. The remainder of the book explores the use of this methodology in a variety of more complex settings.