Psychology Statistics For Dummies

Untangle statistics and make correct, dependable conclusions

Psychology Statistics For Dummies, 2nd Edition makes statistics accessible to psychology students, covering all the content in a typical undergraduate psychology statistics class. Built on a foundation of jargon-free explanations and real-life examples, this book focuses on information and techniques that psychology students need to know (and nothing more). You''ll learn to use the popular SPSS statistics software to calculate statistics and look for patterns in psychological data. And, this helpful guide offers a brief introduction to using the R programming language for statistical analysis—an increasingly important skill for the digital age. You''ll also find hands-on practice exercises and examples using recent, real datasets.

• Explore the use of statistical analysis in research for the psychology field
• Master basic statistics concepts such as means, standard deviations, and correlations
• Conduct data analysis using the SPSS software package
• Get clear explanations of everything in your psychology statistics course, so you can pass with flying colors

This guide is perfect to use as a readable supplement to psychology textbooks and overall coursework. Students in other social and behavioral sciences can also benefit from this stellar primer on statistics.

Introduction 1

Part 1: Describing Data 1

Chapter 1: Statistics? I Thought This Was Psychology! 7

Chapter 2: Dealing with Different Types of Data. 15

Chapter 3: Inputting Data and Labels in SPSS 23

Chapter 4: Measures of Central Tendency 39

Chapter 5: Measures of Dispersion 51

Chapter 6: Generating Graphs and Charts 65

Part 2: Understanding Statistical Significance 77

Chapter 7: Understanding Probability and Inference 79

Chapter 8: Testing Hypotheses 87

Chapter 9: What’s Normal about the Normal Distribution? 97

Chapter 10: Standardized Scores 111

Chapter 11: Effect Sizes and Power 119

Part 3: Analyzing Relationships between Variables 137

Chapter 12: Correlations 139

Chapter 13: Linear Regression 157

Chapter 14: Associations between Discrete Variables 187

Part 4: Analyzing Independent Groups Research Designs 203

Chapter 15: Independent t-Tests and Mann–Whitney Tests 205

Chapter 16: Between-Groups ANOVA 221

Chapter 17: Post-Hoc Tests and Planned Comparisons for Independent Groups Designs 243

Part 5: Analyzing Repeated Measures Research Designs 257

Chapter 18: Paired t-Tests and Wilcoxon Tests 259

Chapter 19: Within-Groups ANOVA 275

Chapter 20: Post-Hoc Tests and Planned Comparisons for Repeated Measures Designs 301

Part 6: The Part of Tens 317

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Inferential Testing 319

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Writing a Results Section 323

Index 327

Donncha Hanna, PhD, is Professor of Mental Health and Psychopathology at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is a co-author of Research Methods in Psychology For Dummies.

Martin Dempster, PhD, is a health psychologist and statistician at Queen’s University, Belfast. He’s a co-author of Research Methods in Psychology For Dummies.

An easy guide to psych statistics

Looking for an easy-to-read, authoritative resource to help you navigate an undergraduate psychology statistics class? Psychology Statistics For Dummies walks you through information and techniques you need to know to succeed in your coursework and research projects. You’ll explore the SPSS statistics software used to look for patterns i