Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics 7th Edition

Book Preface

With another new edition (now the seventh), we welcome you to what we hope  will be, in all ways, a good learning experience. I, Bruce, who joins this project  as Neil’s coauthor, am touched and honored that my old friend, colleague, and  mentor chose me to carry on his work on this book and his other popular SAGE publications. Neil passed away in 2017. I became a writer because he was. I care about my  teaching because he did. And I’m dedicated to simplifying and explaining statistics  and research methods because he was. Thank you, Neil. For everything. Here we go!
What many students of introductory statistics (be they new to the subject or just  reviewing the material) have in common (at least at the beginning of their studies)  is a relatively high level of anxiety, the origin of which is, more often than not,  what they’ve heard from their fellow students. Often, a small part of what they  have heard is true—learning statistics takes an investment of time and effort (and  there’s the occasional monster for a teacher).

But most of what they’ve heard (and where most of the anxiety comes from)— that statistics is unbearably difficult and confusing—is just not true. Thousands  of fear-struck students have succeeded where they thought they would fail. They  did it by taking one thing at a time, pacing themselves, seeing illustrations of basic  principles as they are applied to real-life settings, and even having some fun along  the way. That’s what Neil tried to do in writing the first six editions of Statistics for  People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics, and I, Bruce, have done my best to continue that tradition with this revision.
After a great deal of trial and error, some successful and many unsuccessful  attempts, and a ton of feedback from students and teachers at all levels of education, we attempt with this book to teach statistics in a way that we (and many of  our students) think is unintimidating and informative. We have tried our absolute  best to incorporate all that experience into this book.

What you will learn from this book is the information you need to understand  what the field and study of basic statistics is all about. You’ll learn about the fundamental ideas and the most commonly used techniques to organize and make sense  of data. There’s very little theory (but some), and there are few mathematical proofs  or discussions of the rationale for certain mathematical routines Why isn’t this theory stuff and more in Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate  Statistics? Simple. Right now, you don’t need it. It’s not that we don’t think it’s  important. Rather, at this point and time in your studies, we want to offer you  material at a level we think you can understand and learn with some reasonable  amount of effort while at the same time not be scared off from taking additional  courses in the future. We (including your professor) want you to succeed. So, if you are looking for a detailed unraveling of the derivation of the analysis  of variance F ratio, go find another good book from SAGE (Bruce will be glad to  refer you to one). But if you want to learn why and how statistics can work for you,  you’re in the right place. This book will help you understand the material you read  in journal articles, explain what the results of many statistical analyses mean, and  teach you how to perform basic statistical tasks.

And, if you want to talk about any aspect of teaching or learning statistics, feel free  to contact me. You can do this through Bruce’s email address at school (bfrey@ ku.edu). Good luck, and let him know how he can improve this book to even  better meet the needs of thebeginning statistics student. And, if you want the data
files that will help you succeed, go to the SAGE website at edge.sagepub.com/salkindfrey7e.

AND A (LITTLE) NOTE TO THE INSTRUCTOR
We would like to share two things.
First, we applaud your efforts at teaching basic statistics. Although this topic may  be easier for some students, most find the material very challenging. Your patience  and hard work are appreciated by all, and if there is anything we can do to help,  please send Bruce a note.

Second, Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics is not meant to be a  dumbed-down book similar to others you may have seen. Nor is the title meant  to convey anything other than the fact that many students new to the subject are  very anxious about what’s to come. This is not an academic or textbook version of a  “book for dummies” or anything of the kind. We have made every effort to address  students with the respect they deserve, not to patronize them, and to ensure that  the material is approachable. How well we did in these regards is up to you, but  we want to convey our very clear intent that this book contains the information  needed in an introductory course, and even though our approach involves some  humor, nothing about our intent is anything other than serious. Thank you.

BRIEF CONTENTS
A Note to the Student: Why We Wrote This Book xviii
Acknowledgments xx
And Now, About the Seventh Edition . . . xxi
About the Authors xxv
PART I • YIPPEE! I’M IN STATISTICS! 1
Chapter 1 • Statistics or Sadistics? It’s Up to You 4
PART II • ΣIGMA FREUD AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 19
Chapter 2 • Computing and Understanding Averages:
Means to an End 21
Chapter 3 • Understanding Variability: Vive la Différence 41
Chapter 4 • Creating Graphs: A Picture Really Is Worth a
Thousand Words 56
Chapter 5 • Computing Correlation Coefficients:
Ice Cream and Crime 76
Chapter 6 • An Introduction to Understanding Reliability
and Validity: Just the Truth 103
PART III • TAKING CHANCES FOR FUN AND PROFIT 125
Chapter 7 • Hypotheticals and You: Testing Your Questions 127
Chapter 8 • Probability and Why It Counts: Fun With a
Bell-Shaped Curve 140
PART IV • SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT: USING INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 165
Chapter 9 • Significantly Significant: What It Means
for You and Me 167
Chapter 10 • The One-Sample z Test: Only the Lonely 186
Chapter 11 • t(ea) for Two: Tests Between the Means of
Different Groups 199
Chapter 12 • t(ea) for Two (Again): Tests Between the
Means of Related Groups 215
Chapter 13 • Two Groups Too Many? Try Analysis of Variance 229
Chapter 14 • Two Too Many Factors: Factorial Analysis
of Variance—A Brief Introduction 247
Chapter 15 • Testing Relationships Using the Correlation
Coefficient: Cousins or Just Good Friends? 262
Chapter 16 • Using Linear Regression: Predicting the Future 274
PART V • MORE STATISTICS! MORE TOOLS! MORE FUN! 293
Chapter 17 • Chi-Square and Some Other Nonparametric Tests:
What to Do When You’re Not Normal 295
Chapter 18 • Some Other (Important) Statistical Procedures
You Should Know About 311
Chapter 19 • Data Mining: An Introduction to Getting the
Most Out of Your BIG Data 319
Appendix A: SPSS Statistics in Less Than 30 Minutes 334
Appendix B: Tables 354
Appendix C: Data Sets 367
Appendix D: Answers to Practice Questions 407
Appendix E: Math: Just the Basics 443
Appendix F: A Statistical Software Sampler 447
Appendix G: The 10 (or More) Best (and Most Fun) Internet
Sites for Statistics Stuff 455
Appendix H: The 10 Commandments of Data Collection 459
Appendix I: The Reward: The Brownie Recipe 462
Glossary 464
Index 468