U1D1-64 – Identify Your Sources Of Statistics Anxiety – See Details

U1D1-64 – Identify Your Sources Of Statistics Anxiety – See Details

This textbook assumes that students have taken basic courses in statistics and research methods. A typical first course in statistics includes methods to describe the distribution of scores on a single variable (such as frequency distribution tables, medians, means, variances, and standard deviations) and a few widely used bivariate statistics . Bivariate statistics (such as the Pearson correlation, the independent samples t test, and one-way analysis of variance or ANOVA) assess how pairs of variables are related. This textbook is intended for use in a second course in statistics; the presentation in this textbook assumes that students recognize the names of statistics such as t test and Pearson correlation but may not yet fully understand how to apply and interpret these analyses.

The first goal in this course is for students to develop a better understanding of these basic bivariate statistics and the problems that arise when these analytic methods are applied to real-life research problems. Chapters 1 through 3 deal with basic concepts that are often a source of confusion because actual researcher behaviors often differ from the recommended methods described in basic textbooks; this includes issues such as sampling and statistical significance testing. Chapter 4 discusses methods for preliminary data screening; before doing any statistical analysis, it is important to remove errors from data, assess whether the data violate assumptions for the statistical procedures, and decide how to handle any violations of assumptions that are detected. Chapters 5 through 9 review familiar bivariate statistics that can be used to assess how scores on one X predictor variable are related to scores on one Y outcome variable (such as the Pearson correlation and the independent samples t test). Chapters 10 through 13 discuss the questions that arise when a third variable is added to the analysis. Later chapters discuss analyses that include multiple predictor and/or multiple outcome variables.

When students begin to read journal articles or conduct their own research, it is a challenge to understand how textbook knowledge is applied in real-life research situations. This textbook provides guidance on dealing with the problems that arise when researchers apply statistical methods to actual data.