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An Interview with Lee Creighton coauthor of upcoming book, Regression Using JMP
Lee Creighton is coauthor, with Rudolf Freund and Ramon Littell, of the upcoming BBU book Regression Using JMP. Lee Creighton, Ph.D., is the documentation manager for the JMP division at SAS Institute. His interests are in the methods of teaching statistics and the applications of statistics to educational measurement. Prior to working at SAS, Dr. Creighton taught high school and collegiate mathematics in North Carolina.For more about the authors, please visit the BBU companion Web site.
Lee Creighton talks with Authorline about his first BBU book. His coauthors are Rudolf Freund and Ramon Littell. Ramon Littell, Ph.D. is Professor of Statistics at the University of Florida, where he teaches applied statistics and serves as a consulting statistician at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Littell is coauthor of the three previous editions of this book with Dr. Freund . Rudolf J. Freund, Ph.D. former associate director and cofounder of the Department of Statistics at Texas A & M University, is now professor emeritus.
- Authorline (AL): What was your motivation for writing your book?
- Lee Creighton (LC): I had used the Littell/Freund book SAS System for Regression while learning SAS and had always liked it.
When we were looking for books to be adapted for use with JMP, this one was a perfect fit.
- AL: Who are you targeting with your book?
- LC: I'm looking to hit a slightly different audience than the original authors. I'm hoping to reach people that have a real
need to use statistics in their jobs. There are plenty of very quantitative people -- engineers, medical researchers, and so forth --
who need to use the techniques we cover but have either forgotten the details or never had an opportunity to learn them in the first place.
I see the present book as a way to get them up and running with JMP.
- AL: What features of the book are you especially pleased with?
- LC: I was a high school and college teacher before becoming a writer, so I especially like the parts of the book that explain
how regression works. There's a whole section at the beginning of the book that explains the least-squares technique using an animated
script. Most of the book shows actual JMP output and includes examples that illustrate how to progress through a typical problem, but I think
the extra pedagogical diversions add to the value of the text.
- AL: How will your book benefit JMP users?
- LC: The book gives examples of using several JMP platforms in investigations. The JMP documentation is typically
platform-oriented, in order to completely explain each menu item in detail. In the real world, most problems cannot be completely explored
without using several platforms, and this book shows how to use all of JMP in concert to solve regression-type problems.
- AL: What were some of the joys of writing this book?
- LC: One of the joys was working closely with the developers of JMP while writing. I think the learning went both ways --
I learned a lot about the software, and they got to see the types of problems that I wrote about. In the end, both the book and the software
improved because of the interchange.
- AL: How did you develop as a writer while you were creating this book?
- LC: I'm a far better writer now than I was when I started. Every time I write a book, I improve. My background is
in educational research, and most of my previous experience was with a totally different audience.
- AL: What did you learn while writing this book that would be important for other authors to know?
- LC: That the writing must go on. Even if you don't particularly feel like writing on a particular day, it still must be done.
Deadlines have no sympathy for the goings-on of your life. But when the final product appears, you'll realize that it was worth the work.
- AL: How did you decide to publish with SAS?
- LC: SAS Books by Users program has a great reputation. Having been at SAS for several years now, I knew that I wouldn't find a
better group to work with.
- AL: Are you glad you decided to publish with SAS? If so, what has made the experience a good one?
- LC: The BBU staff is tireless, and sometimes hard to keep up with. But, it was a pleasure to work with a group of people
who cared as much about the book as I did.
- AL: Your book will be going to the printer in just a few weeks. How does it feel to be in the home stretch of such a long project?
- LC: It's like looking at an empty nest. After living with the book for so long, fretting over it, changing it, it's
really tough to let it go. Suddenly, your free time increases, and I must admit I'm a little dazed by its availability. Obviously, it's
time to start writing another book.
- AL: What advice would you give to potential authors?
- LC: Make sure you really like the topic you are writing about. There is a time in the development of every book
where you want to throw the whole thing in the sink and set it afire. Writing is pretty tough, and if you're not fascinated with your topic, it
becomes impossible. On the other hand, when you do have an interest in what you're writing about, it becomes a fun exploration.
- AL: How were you able to balance your time between your career and writing this book?
- LC: Working as a writer for the JMP group made this easy. I had lots of resources at my fingertips all the time.
- AL: When you aren't writing or consulting, how do you like to spend your free time?
- LC: I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I adore television, movies, and books. Pop culture fascinates me, probably feeding the side of my brain that statistics does not.