This book is written for undergraduate students in behavioural sciences, such as psychology, pedagogy, sociology and ethology. The topics range from basic techniques such as correlation and t-tests, to moderately advanced analyses such as multiple regression and MANOVA. The focus is on practical application and reporting, and on the correct interpretation of what is being reported. For example, why is interaction so important? What does it mean when the null hypothesis is retained? Why do we need effect sizes?
A characteristic feature of the book is that it uses the same structure of a ‘basic report’ again and again to introduce new analyses to the reader. This makes it possible for students to study the content very efficiently, as they require less time to discover the structure. Another characteristic of the book is the systematic attention spent to reading and interpreting graphs in connection to the statistics. Many statistics books use graphical explanations, but ignore the fact that some students are simply not visually oriented. For such students, graphical explanations make the stuff harder, not easier. Understanding the visualizations is addressed in separate chapters here.
Jules Ellis is associate professor in the School of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence of the Radboud University Nijmegen. He teaches statistics, psychometrics, and data analysis, and he has written a series of Dutch statistics books for undergraduate students. He started teaching statistics in 1983 as a student assistant.
