Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

by Jacob Cohen

Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Revised Edition emphasizes the importance of statistical power analysis. This edition discusses the concepts and types of power analysis, t test for means, significance of a product moment rs, and differences between correlation coefficients. The test that a proportion is .50 and sign test, differences between proportions, and chi-square tests for goodness of fit and contingency tables are also elaborated. This text likewise covers the F tests of variance proportions in multiple regression/correlation analysis and computational procedures. This publication is intended for behavioral and biosocial scientists who use statistical inference, but also serves as a supplementary textbook for intermediate level courses in applied statistics in behavioral/biosocial science.

Genres: Textbooks, Research, Science, Psychology

474 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Terran M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is THE canonical reference for effect size and power testing; it coined the term “Cohen's d”. References in R functions, such as pwr.2p2n.test, are to this book, so it is a required reference.

That said, I feel it has not aged well as a book to actually read cover-to-cover. Written for the pre-computer era, it offers numerous tables and examples in their use, but offers little exposition on why certain measures were chosen. For example, the effect size transformation for proportions, phi=2*arcsin(sqrt(p)), is presented entirely without explanation of any kind, verbal or mathematical.

There are nuggets of wisdom here, but you have to sift for them.