Esterberg does a great job of presenting the essential approaches, techniques, and issues, in a very easy-to-read style. As a teacher, it was a pleasure to be able to assign a chapter to my students knowing that it would not be overly long, that they could read it with little difficulty, and that Esterberg presented what I wanted them to know. I didn't have to supplement to make up gaps, tell them to skip sections because the author tried to be encyclopedic, or spend a lot of time in class explaining portions that were unclear. I could instead build on what they read and focus on their actually learning what Esterberg presented.
Now if I could only find a text that does the same for quantitative methods...