The book is meant to serve as an upper-level undergraduate or introductory graduate textbook in statistical thinking with a likelihood emphasis on students with a solid understanding of calculus and the capacity to think abstractly.
By "statistical thinking," we imply an emphasis on concepts that matter to statisticians rather than the specifics of how to implement those concepts. Though they are not the main subject, the book does offer technical specifics. It is intended by "likelihood focus" that the probability function and likelihood principle serve as the text's overarching concepts.
The employment of statistical software as a teaching tool is another peculiar feature. To put it another way, the book employs computer modeling and calculation as another means to explain and help readers comprehend the underlying principles, rather than only seeing the computer as a practical and accurate calculating equipment.
R, a statistical language, is used extensively throughout the text.
