Essentials of Behavioral and Social Science Statistics

Comprehensive resource on applying statistical analyses to behavioral and social science research situations, with new examples, methods, and support for computing in Excel and SPSS

The Third Edition of Essentials of Behavioral and Social Science Statistics prompts the student to develop a deep understanding of the psychometric principles involved in the research process, as well as a mastery of the particular functionality of the most common statistical tools and an ability to properly select and use them in the real world; this goal is achieved thanks to the organization of the text, the philosophical content interspersed within it, the depth of the exercises and work problems, and the supporting materials provided for the instructor and student.

The Third Edition has been thoroughly edited and streamlined to allow for students to move efficiently through the conceptual and mathematical fundamentals and on to the payoff formulas and descriptions of applications. New content includes philosophical issues associated with psychometrics and inferential statistical testing, interpretation, measurement, and the replication crisis in the social sciences. End-of-chapter exercises and work problems have been strengthened and reorganized to further improve comprehension and performance. Section reviews that draw on concepts from all preceding chapters are included to help students develop skills of statistical tool selection and application. Support for instructors includes chapter-based learning objectives, test banks, and PowerPoints.

Essentials of Behavioral and Social Science Statistics includes information on:

• Basic concepts in research covering the scientific method, types of variables, controlling extraneous variables, validity issues, and causality and correlation
• Descriptive statistics including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency and variability, transformations, and standardized scores
• The fundamentals of inferential statistics, including probability theory, sampling distributions, the central limit theorem, and the terminology of hypothesis testing
• The logic and application of basic inferential tests including single-sample tests, independent-and dependent-samples t tests, and the basics of power analysis
• The logic and application of three common ANOVA analyses; one-way, two-way, and repeated-measures
• The logic and application of basic bivariate data analysis tools, linear correlation and linear regression
• The logic and application of chi-square analyses, both goodness-of-fit and tests-for-independence

Written to facilitate concept mastery and enable practical application of concepts, Essentials of Behavioral and Social Science Statistics offers a survey of basic descriptive and inferential statistical tools and concepts and is highly suitable to support a rigorous undergraduate behavioral science or social science statistics course.