Essential Statistics

To the Instructor Why Another Statistics Book? I have been teaching statistics for about ten years, and one thing remains consistent: The majority of psychology students are not overjoyed to learn statistics. When I ask them why, they often tell me they aren't good at math and statistics is a baring course. While I appreciate their candid replies, I don't think their perceptions are accurate. They can be good at math, and statistics doesn't have to be a boring course. In this textbook, every effort is made to reduce anxiety about statistics, make statistics relevant and interesting, and incorporate SPSS to show students how to analyze data efficiently. To reduce anxiety, Chapter 1 opens with pointers on how to become competent in the course, with the final point reminding students that we're on their side. We want them to succeed and are delighted to record high grades when they are earned. Chapter 1 also contains a section on math, and students can quickly see that calculations required in statistics are quite simple. To further demonstrate that the math required of them is not difficult, over 30 practice items are offered at the end of this chapter. Within the first few class meetings, students should begin to recognize that they can perform well in statistics if they apply themselves, and we are available to help if they need us. In addition to a simple introduction to the course in Chapter 1, the entire text is written in a conversational style to further reduce anxiety. Although several reader-friendly supplemental statistics texts have become available over the past few years, this book is the first that offers the same readability and covers all information essential to a statistics course, from z-tests to the two-way ANOVA. In fact, I have also included brief Appendices on the repeated-measures ANOVA and multiple regression for instructors who choose to cover them. Every chapter and appendix is written in a straightforward way that my students have found accessible. Within each chapter, the material is segmented into many sections and subsections to allow students to digest the material at their own pace without stopping in the middle of a long stretch of text. The final section of each chapter is a preview of the subsequent chapter. The Preview summarizes the current chapter and links the material with the next chapter to help students see connections between topics. Finally, anxiety is reduced by offering students many practice items, which have been divided into Conceptual and Application categories. Conceptual Items are definitional or based on theory presented in the chapter. "What measure of variability must be used with ordinal data?" "When designing an experiment, why do researchers prefer a dependent variable of interval or ratio values?" "Why is it illogical to compare diagonal cell means after discovering a significant interaction?" Answers to these items can easily be found within the chapter to help students test themselves on their memory of the material. Application Items are more involved, requiring students to analyze an example in detail, often including calculations. A second Application Item example allows students to explore the relationship between age and respect. For both Conceptual and Application Item sections, more challenging items tend to be found toward the end of each category, and answers to odd-numbered items are located at the back of the book. Answers to all even-numbered items are found in the instructor's manual, and the student workbook provides larger data sets and a look at studies published by undergraduates. To address students' concern that statistics is a boring course, I have tried to share my passion for teaching statistics in this textbook. For several years, passion in teaJanie H. Wilson Ph.D. is the author of 'Essential Statistics', published 2004 under ISBN 9780130994226 and ISBN 0130994227.