Fundamental Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Second Edition, places statistics within the research process, illustrating how they are used to answer questions and test ideas. Students learn not only how to calculate statistics, but also how to interpret and communicate the results of statistical analyses in light of a study’s research hypothesis. Featuring accessible writing and well-integrated research examples, the book gives students a greater understanding of how research studies are conceived, conducted, and communicated. The Second Edition includes a new chapter on regression; covers how collected data can be organized, presented and summarized; the process of conducting statistical analyses to test research questions, hypotheses, and issues/controversies; and examines statistical procedures used in research situations that vary in the number of independent variables in the study. Every chapter includes learning checks, such as review questions and summary boxes, to reinforce the content students just learned, and exercises at the end of every chapter help assess their knowledge. Also new to the Second Edition -- animated video tutorials!

In addition to learning how to apply classic statistical methods, students need to understand when these methods perform well, and when and why they can be highly unsatisfactory. Modern Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences illustrates how to use R to apply both standard and modern methods to correct known problems with classic techniques. Numerous illustrations provide a conceptual basis for understanding why practical problems with classic methods were missed for so many years, and why modern techniques have practical value. Designed for a two-semester, introductory course for graduate students in the social sciences, this text introduces three major advances in the field: Early studies seemed to suggest that normality can be assumed with relatively small sample sizes due to the central limit theorem. However, crucial issues were missed. Vastly improved methods are now available for dealing with non-normality. The impact of outliers and heavy-tailed distributions on power and our ability to obtain an accurate assessment of how groups differ and variables are related is a practical concern when using standard techniques, regardless of how large the sample size might be. Methods for dealing with this insight are described. The deleterious effects of heteroscedasticity on conventional ANOVA and regression methods are much more serious than once thought. Effective techniques for dealing heteroscedasticity are described and illustrated. Requiring no prior training in statistics, Modern Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences provides a graduate-level introduction to basic, routinely used statistical techniques relevant to the social and behavioral sciences. It describes and illustrates methods developed during the last half century that deal with known problems associated with classic techniques. Espousing the view that no single method is always best, it imparts a general understanding of the relative merits of various techniques so that the choice of method can be made in an informed manner.

Statistics for Lawyers presents the science of statistics in action at the cutting edge of legal problems. A series of more than 90 case studies, drawn principally from actual litigation, have been selected to illustrate important areas of the law in which statistics has played a role and to demonstrate a variety of statistical tools. Some case studies raise legal issues that are being intensely debated and lie at the edge of the law. Of particular note are problems involving toxic torts, employment discrimination, stock market manipulation, paternity, tax legislation, and drug testing. The case studies are presented in the form of legal/statistical puzzles to challenge the reader and focus discussion on the legal implications of statistical findings. The techniques range from simple averaging for the estimation of thefts from parking meters to complex logistic regression models for the demonstration of discrimination in the death penalty. Excerpts of data allow the reader to compute statistical results and an appendix contains the authors' calculations.

FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES focuses on providing the context of statistics in behavioral research, while emphasizing the importance of looking at data before jumping into a test. This practical approach provides students with an understanding of the logic behind the statistics, so they understand why and how certain methods are used -- rather than simply carry out techniques by rote. Students move beyond number crunching to discover the meaning of statistical results and appreciate how the statistical test to be employed relates to the research questions posed by an experiment. Written in an informal style, the text provides an abundance of real data and research studies that provide a real-life perspective and help students learn and understand concepts. In alignment with current trends in statistics in the behavioral sciences, the text emphasizes effect sizes and meta-analysis, and integrates frequent demonstrations of computer analyses through SPSS and R. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Do you find statistics overwhelming and confusing? Have you ever wished for someone to explain the basics in a clear and easy-to-follow style? This accessible textbook gives a step-by-step introduction to all the topics covered in introductory statistics courses for the behavioural sciences, with plenty of examples discussed in depth, based on real psychology experiments utilising the statistical techniques described. Advanced sections are also provided, for those who want to learn a particular topic in more depth. Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences: An Introduction begins with an introduction to the basic concepts, before providing a detailed explanation of basic statistical tests and concepts such as descriptive statistics, probability, the binomial distribution, continuous random variables, the normal distribution, the Chi-Square distribution, the analysis of categorical data, t-tests, correlation and regression. This timely and highly readable text will be invaluable to undergraduate students of psychology, and students of research methods courses in related disciplines, as well as anyone with an interest in the basic concepts and tests associated with statistics in the behavioural sciences.

Statistical Power Analysis is a nontechnical guide to power analysis in research planning that provides users of applied statistics with the tools they need for more effective analysis. The Second Edition includes: * a chapter covering power analysis in set correlation and multivariate methods; * a chapter considering effect size, psychometric reliability, and the efficacy of "qualifying" dependent variables and; * expanded power and sample size tables for multiple regression/correlation.

The subject of the book is advanced statistical analyses for quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis), and selected practical issues relating to research synthesis that are not covered in detail in the many existing introductory books on research synthesis (or meta-analysis). Complex statistical issues are arising more frequently as the primary research that is summarized in quantitative syntheses itself becomes more complex, and as researchers who are conducting meta-analyses become more ambitious in the questions they wish to address. Also as researchers have gained more experience in conducting research syntheses, several key issues have persisted and now appear fundamental to the enterprise of summarizing research. Specifically the book describes multivariate analyses for several indices commonly used in meta-analysis (e.g., correlations, effect sizes, proportions and/or odds ratios), will outline how to do power analysis for meta-analysis (again for each of the different kinds of study outcome indices), and examines issues around research quality and research design and their roles in synthesis. For each of the statistical topics we will examine the different possible statistical models (i.e., fixed, random, and mixed models) that could be adopted by a researcher. In dealing with the issues of study quality and research design it covers a number of specific topics that are of broad concern to research synthesists. In many fields a current issue is how to make sense of results when studies using several different designs appear in a research literature (e.g., Morris & Deshon, 1997, 2002). In education and other social sciences a critical aspect of this issue is how one might incorporate qualitative (e.g., case study) research within a synthesis. In medicine, related issues concern whether and how to summarize observational studies, and whether they should be combined with randomized controlled trials (or even if they should be combined at all). For each topic, included is a worked example (e.g., for the statistical analyses) and/or a detailed description of a published research synthesis that deals with the practical (non-statistical) issues covered.