Making Sense of Data and Statistics in Psychology

Description

This textbook confronts the pedagogic challenge of teaching statistics to students in psychology and related disciplines. Recognizing the heterogeneous nature of students' mathematical backgrounds and motivations, the authors adopt an innovative approach while ensuring ready integration into orthodox undergraduate statistics courses at introductory and post introductory levels. Before being introduced to formal statistics, students are encouraged to develop a "feel" for data, particularly through visual representation. Making extensive use of exploratory data analysis (EDA), the text emphasises conceptual rather than technical or procedural understanding.

BRIAN GREER is Professor at the San Diego State University, working in the Centre for Research on Mathematics and Science Education. He has taught statistics to psychology students for many years, and has published widely on mathematics education, recently co-authoring Making Sense of World Problems. GERRY MULHERN is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Queen's University of Belfast, having previously taught at the Universities of Edinburgh and Ulster. He has published widely in the areas of applied cognition and mathematics education, and is former Honorary General Secretary of the British Psychological Society.

'The book reads very well... Pleasantly relaxed and informal. It is well structured and full of interesting, instructional and germane verbal examples and pictorial illustrations.' - Neil Frude, Cardiff University 'Coverage is excellent... The authors obviously have a great deal of experience in teaching, and have brought this to bear... I like the way the authors describe the procedure of carrying out statistical tests. It doesn't befuddle students with mathematics.' - Jeremy Miles, York University 'The authors' style is designed to communicate very directly with the reader, and, I think, achieves this objective well.' - Lynne Duncan, University of Dundee