Experimental Design and Statistics for Psychology: A First Course

Experimental Design and Statistics for Psychology: A First Course is a concise, straighforward and accessible introduction to the design of psychology experiments and the statistical tests used to make sense of their results. Makes abundant use of charts, diagrams and figures. Assumes no prior knowledge of statistics. Invaluable to all psychology students needing a firm grasp of the basics, but tackling of some of the topic’s more complex, controversial issues will also fire the imagination of more ambitious students. Covers different aspects of experimental design, including dependent versus independent variables, levels of treatment, experimental control, random versus systematic errors, and within versus between subjects design. Provides detailed instructions on how to perform statistical tests with SPSS. Downloadable instructor resources to supplement and support your lectures can be found at www.blackwellpublishing.com/sani and include sample chapters, test questions, SPSS data sets, and figures and tables from the book.

Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. Scientific Psychology and the Research Process. 2. The Nature of Psychology Experiments (I): Variables and Conditions. 3. The Nature of Psychology Experiments (II): Validity. 4. Describing Data. 5. Making Inferences from Data. 6. Selecting a Statistical Test. 7. Tests of Significance for Nominal Data. 8. Tests of Significance for Ordinal Data (and Interval/Ratio Data When Parametric Assumptions Are Not Met). 9. Tests of Significance for Interval Data. 10. Correlational Studies. Appendix 1: Statistical Tables. Glossary. A Brief List of Recommended Books. Index.

About the Author :
Fabio Sani is a reader in psychology at the University of Dundee, and has taught both research methods and social psychology courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is also an active researcher, has published numerous articles in high-impact international journals, and is co-editor of the book The Development of the Social Self (2003). John Todman is Emeritus Professor in Applied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Dundee. He has enthusiastically taught combined research methodology and statistical analysis courses, and offered methodological and statistical advice to students and staff, for many years. He has also written over 70 articles and co-authored the book Single-case and Small-n Experimental Designs: A Practical Guide to Randomization Tests (2001).

Review :
"This text helps to bring the research process alive and will clearly prove invaluable to all undergraduate students of psychology. The authors cleverly illustrate the progression in psychological research from hypothesis-formation to research design and finally to data analysis in a unique and informative manner." Simon Dymond PhD., undergraduate research methods instructor, University of Wales, Swansea "This will serve best as a reference book to support undergraduate teaching and as a useful companion to have on hand on introductory level methods classes. It provides first and second year psychology students with a well-grounded grasp of the basics. A well-written and long awaited text that bridges the gap between experimental design and statistical analysis." Psychology Reaching Review "Lively, friendly, amusing and lucid, this is an excellent introduction to experimental design and statistics which provides the clear yet informative explanations that most readers prefer. I would certainly recommend it to my students." Colin Gray, University of Aberdeen & co- author of 'SPSS 12 Made Simple' "This text maintains a wonderful balance of conceptual and practical focus. After each statistical test, the authors demonstrate its use in a hypothetical research study...I would recommend that anyone who teaches or takes a course in survey sampling theory and methods obtain a copy of this book" David R. Bellhouse, The American Statistician, August 2007, Vol. 61, No. 3