Academic and professional publisher, SAGE Publishing, takes a novel approach to attracting and engaging students of statistics

SAGE Publishing is a global independent academic and professional publisher of journals, textbooks, reference books and databases. This month sees the company branching out from its usual publishing programme to release its first ever textbook written in the form of a novel with graphic elements.

An Adventure in Statistics by Andy Field, however, is a story with a difference. Embedded within its action-packed and entertaining pages, supported by a series of lavishly illustrated graphic novel type illustrations, is a detailed and coherent introduction to the core principals of statistics. Required across many fields of learning but often seen as a difficult and dry subject, this novel approach is one that Ziyad Marar, Global Publishing Director at SAGE Publishing, believes will appeal to today’s students:

“Traditional methods of teaching and learning are in flux, partly because attention in the digital age is a scarce resource and engagement is ever harder to create. Andy, in a feat of dazzling originality, has come up with a new answer to this challenge. In a bold and imaginative move, he has rethought the very way statistics can be learned seamlessly embedding difficult concepts into a well told and entertaining story.”

No stranger to SAGE Publishing, Andy’s best-selling textbook called Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics was first published by them in 2000. Now in its fourth edition, it has gone on to sell nearly 400,000 copies globally. But how did he think the publisher would respond to this more creative approach to the subject?

“SAGE offered me the opportunity to set my imagination free, to go somewhere that perhaps other publishers would not let me go, to try something without needing to justify it with research, or pedagogy. An opportunity to follow my heart and not my head. They gave me complete control and supported the project unconditionally.”

On working with Andy on his latest venture, Ziyad Marar says:

“I first met Andy twenty years ago and ever since have been amazed by his ability to explain. Readers around the world constantly say how Andy has changed their lives, making difficult, tear-inducing concepts available, accessible and enjoyable to learn. His gift for explaining and engaging has been on show for many years, and now in this beautifully produced new textbook we see he has an equal gift for storytelling. Andy’s latest project is a daring step for the textbook arena, but I am incredibly proud to be publishing this imaginative work that promises to inspire and engage a new generation of students.”

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Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 950 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Our growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. www.sagepublishing.com