Statistics: A Gentle Introduction

With Statistics: A Gentle Introduction, Third Edition, an introductory stats class needn't be difficult or dull! This textbook has been specifically designed to curtail students' anxieties and minimize unnecessary formulas, while providing a comprehensive review of basic statistical designs and analyses. A wealth of additional real-world examples have been included to give a sense of how the science of statistics works, solves problems, and helps us make informed choices about the world we live in. The author minimizes the use of formulas, but provides a step-by-step approach to their solution, and includes a glossary of key terms, symbols, and definitions at the end of each chapter. Every chapter also includes a short story about historical and contemporary statisticians who figured prominently in the evolution of the discipline of statistics.   New to the Third Edition is the thorough incorporation of SPSS throughout, more visual material and figures, and an enhanced treatment of effect sizes, and more detailed explanation of statistical concepts.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments About the Author 1. A Gentle Introduction 2. Descriptive Statistics: Understanding Distributions of Numbers 3. Statistical Parameters: Measures of Central Tendency and Variation 4. Standard Scores, the Z Distribution, and Hypothesis Testing 5. Inferential Statistics: The Controlled Experiment, Hypothesis Testing, and the z Distribution 6. An Introduction to Correlation and Regression 7. The t Test for Independent Groups 8. The t Test for Dependent Groups 9. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): One-Factor Completely Randomized Design 10. After a Significant Analysis of Variance: Multiple Comparison Tests 11. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): One-Factor Repeated-Measures Design 12. Analysis of Variance: Two-Factor Completely Randomized Design 13. Post Hoc Analysis of Factorial ANOVA 14. Factorial ANOVA: Additional Designs 15. Nonparametric Statistics: The Chi-Square Test 16. Other Statistical Parameters and Tests Appendix A: z Distribution Appendix B: t Distribution Appendix C: Spearman's Correlation Appendix D: The Chi-Square Distribution Appendix E: F Distribution Appendix F: Tukey's Table References Index

About the Author :
Frederick L. Coolidge (Ph.D.) received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Florida. He completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. He has been awarded three Fulbright Fellowships to India (1987, 1992, and 2005). He has also won three teaching awards at the University of Colorado (1984, 1987, and 1992), including the lifetime title of University of Colorado Presidential Teaching Scholar. In 2005, he received the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences’ Outstanding Research and Creative Works award. Dr. Coolidge conducts research in behavioral genetics and has established the strong heritability of gender identity and gender identity disorder. He also conducts research in lifespan personality assessment and has established the reliability of posthumous personality evaluations, and also applies cognitive models of thinking and language to explain evolutionary changes in the archaeological record.

Review :
”The approach is ‘right on’–making statistics approachable and learnable, rather than a barrier to a student’s further education.” “Coolidge makes understanding statistics a fairly simple task, with clear examples, anecdotes, and analogies.” “It is a very engaging book which incorporates humor along with clear presentation of statistical concepts. It is not as intimidating as some other texts. It incorporates research methods concepts skillfully.” “The author provides practical application of statistics to real problems to be solved.” “I believe tone and more elementary explanations are what makes this text a very good tool especially for students who are required to take statistics but not anxious to take statistics.” “I think the author did a great job for updating his textbook. I believe that the last edition was a fairly friendly textbook for students in undergraduate introductory statistics, but the update makes this textbook even friendlier.” “I like the conversational writing style and fascinating examples. The background information about important figures in the history and development of statistics separates this text from most others. The SPSS instructions are clear and easy to follow and the interpretation of the SPSS output is excellent.”