Applying Statistics in Behavioural Research

by Jules L. Ellis

This book is written for undergraduate students in behavioural sciences, such as psychology, pedagogy, sociology and ethology. The topics range from basic techniques such as correlation and t-tests, to moderately advanced analyses such as multiple regression and MANOVA. The focus is on practical application and reporting, and on the correct interpretation of what is being reported. For example, why is interaction so important? What does it mean when the null hypothesis is retained? Why do we need effect sizes?

A characteristic feature of the book is that it uses the same structure of a 'basic report' again and again to introduce new analyses to the reader. This makes it possible for students to study the content very efficiently, as they require less time to discover the structure. Another characteristic of the book is the systematic attention spent to reading and interpreting graphs in connection to the statistics. Many statistics books use graphical explanations, but ignore the fact that some students are simply not visually oriented. For such students, graphical explanations make the stuff harder, not easier. Understanding the visualizations is addressed in separate chapters here.

Jules Ellis is associate professor in the School of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence of the Radboud University Nijmegen. He teaches statistics, psychometrics, and data analysis, and he has written a series of Dutch statistics books for undergraduate students. He started teaching statistics in 1983 as a student assistant.

Genres: Psychology

503 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Masha]

Year 1:
Test part A: 70.00%
Test part B: 83.00%
Test part C: 74.00%
Test part D: 94.00% (!!!!! and also ???? because most difficult part)
Average: 80.00%

Year 2:
Test part A: 72.00%
Test part B: 87.00&
Average: 80.00%

[Cleautviool · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly terribly written and a really annoying course. I wouldve loved to skip this shit if statistics weren't actually important

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

The amount of detail used to explain a new topic seems to vary widely and does not always seem to follow a clear or consistent pattern. Sometimes a topic that is just revised is explained in hreat detail again and sometimes a completely new topic seems to have no explanation besides the formula.

Merged review:

The amount of detail used to explain a new topic seems to vary widely and does not always seem to follow a clear or consistent pattern. Sometimes a topic that is just revised is explained in hreat detail again and sometimes a completely new topic seems to have no explanation besides the formula.

[dim14 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Introduces a lot of concepts, but barely explains them. Explanations are all over the place and not in a logical order. One of the worst textbooks I've ever used. This will pretty much only be useful for the practice exercises, and telling you which things to Google.