Essential Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Conceptual Approach

This book helps readers become intelligent consumers of the social/behavioral science literature and familiarizes them with the fundamental tools of research. It features a conceptual, intuitive approach that is less math-oriented (e.g., not cluttered with all sorts of sub-and superscripts, and not concerned with mathematical derivatives of the various statistics), and that clearly shows the continuity and interrelatedness of the techniques discussed. After the necessary concepts have been explained and the calculations have been performed for each statistic, the text walks readers through a line-by-line explanation of a computer printout (based on actual data) containing that statistic. "Practice Applications" provide research examples with step-by-step solutions to all statistical procedures. Describing Data. Central Tendency and Dispersion. Probability and the Normal Curve. The Sampling Distribution and Estimation Procedures. Hypothesis Testing: Interval/Ratio Data. Analysis of Variance. Hypothesis Testing with Categorical Data: Chi-Square. Measures of Association with Nominal and Ordinal Data. Elaboration and Causal Analysis. Bivariate Correlation and Regression. Multivariate Correlation and Regression. For anyone in the social/behavioral sciences who needs an accessible introduction to statistics.