Comprehending Behavioral Statistics

While this book provides the same material found in most introductory statistics texts, it goes beyond the standard by teaching students how to estimate statistics before computations are performed. The ESTAT software helps students build this skill by allowing them to learn to make accurate eyeball-estimates before ever touching a calculator. These estimation techniques are provided for both descriptive and inferential statistics. The ESTAT software is optional with the text, students can learn estimation from information in the book alone if you so choose.

Russell T. Hurlburt, Ph.D. has been at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1976. Prior to arriving at UNLV, he completed a clinical psychology internship at Connecticut's Newtown State Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of South Dakota after a B.S. in engineering from Princeton. Hurlburt's areas of interest include the teaching of introductory statistics: Dr. Hurlburt has developed "eyeball estimation" techniques for comprehending the concepts of statistics, and he's incorporated them into his textbooks and computer-aided instructional programs. His clinical psychology and engineering backgrounds make him ideally situated to write about introductory statistics with accuracy and sensitivity. Dr. Hurlburt is also one of the pioneers of "thought sampling," the use of beepers to trigger the random sampling of thoughts and feelings in participants' own natural environments. He is the originator of the "descriptive experience sampling method," which provides qualitative, idiographic descriptions of inner experience.