Interpreting Basic Statistics gives students valuable practice in interpreting statistical reporting as it actually appears in peer-reviewed journals.
New to the eighth edition:
- A broader array of basic statistical concepts is covered, especially to better reflect the New Statistics.
- Journal excerpts have been updated to reflect current styles in statistical reporting.
- A stronger emphasis on data visualizations has been added.
The statistical exercises have been re-organized into units to facilitate ease of use and understanding.
About this book
Each of the 64 exercises gives a brief excerpt of statistical reporting from a published research article, and begins with guidelines for interpreting the statistics in the excerpt.
The questions on the excerpts promote learning by requiring students to
- interpret information in tables and figures,
- perform simple calculations to further their interpretations,
- critique data-reporting techniques, and
- evaluate procedures used to collect data.
Each exercise covers a limited number of statistics, making it easy to coordinate the exercises with lectures and a main textbook.
The questions in each exercise are divided into two parts: (1) Factual Questions and (2) Questions for Discussion. The factual questions require careful reading for details, while the discussion questions show that interpreting statistics is more than a mathematical exercise. These questions require students to apply good judgment as well as statistical reasoning in arriving at appropriate interpretations.