OK, I've Signed Up For Statistics. Now What?

Barry Trunk received his Doctorate in Developmental Psychology and Statistics from The Ohio State University, and has taught statistics at the undergraduate, Master’s and Doctoral levels for the past 30 years. In addition to this book on statistics, he is the co-author of two other books published by the University Press of America, and travels extensively for Capella University, assisting doctoral candidates with their research methodology and statistical analyses.Leslie Olsen received her Master’s in English from the University of Washington and has been teaching writing to undergraduates, as well as Master’s and Doctorate seekers, for over 15 years. Her extensive background in writing makes her well situated to helping students with the elusive task of writing about numbers. She has several publications, and currently teaches composition and business writing online. She is a member of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee on Best Practices for Online Writing Instruction since 2010.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSCHAPTER 1–OK . . . LET’S GET STARTEDCHAPTER 2–QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: BEFORE THE CLASS STARTSCHAPTER 3–SOME THINGS YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STATISTICS!CHAPTER 4–IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S HOW YOU SAY ITCHAPTER 5–SOME COMMON ISSUES WITHIN THE FIELD OF STATISTICSCHAPTER 6–THE CHAPTER OF ANNOUNCEMENTSCHAPTER 7–ODDS AND ENDSCHAPTER 8–WRAPPING IT ALL UPAPPENDIX A–A COMPLETE EXAMPLE OF THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCEAPPENDIX B–MULTIPLE REGRESSION FOR YOU AND MEAPPENDIX C–HEY! LET’S LOOK AT MULTIVARIATE STATISTICS

This delightful little book will serve as a powerful companion to anyone who wishes to utilize a multitude of statistical methods in the pursuit of structuring, organizing, describing and interpreting research questions and findings in a wide range of social scientific disciplines. Barry Trunk and Leslie Olsen brilliantly provide not only a clear introduction to the study of quantitative methods, but present a tool that can serve as a user-friendly, go-to manual that puts into everyday language the commonalities that tie together a number of specific approaches to data analysis. Not only does this book take the fear out of the study of statistics, it serves to link plain language to statistical procedures which will help the researcher describe in clear terms the meaning behind those procedures. After all, as social scientists, we are in the business of describing and explaining psychological constructs in clear language that advances (not obscures) an understanding of the world around us. This book will be one that the student will want to refer to over and over again as a reminder of how to stay on track in that pursuit.