Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics: The Excel Edition / Edition 1

by Neil J. Salkind

Overview

Derived from his bestselling text Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics, author Neil J. Salkind presents readers with The Excel Edition! Using the same personable and clear style that made previous editions so successful, this new edition teaches students how they can use Excel to learn the basics of statistics. This is not a text on how to use Excel, rather it illustrates how this program can make the statistics learning experience a better one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412924825
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	07/28/2006
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Neil J. Salkind received his PhD from the University of Maryland in Human Development, and taught for 35 years at the University of Kansas in the Department of Psychology and Research in Education. His early interests were in the area of children’s cognitive development, and after research in the areas of cognitive style and (what was then known as) hyperactivity, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina’s Bush Center for Child and Family Policy. His work then changed direction and the focus was on child and family policy, specifically the impact of alternative forms of public support on various child and family outcomes. He delivered more than 150 professional papers and presentations; and wrote more than 100 trade and textbooks; and is the author of Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics (Sage), Theories of Human Development (Sage), and Exploring Research (Prentice Hall). He edited several encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of Human Development, the Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics, and the recently published Encyclopedia of Research Design. He was editor of Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography for 13 years.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Student Why I Wrote this Book
Acknowledgments
Part I: Yippee! I’m in Statistics
Chapter 1. Statistics or Sadistics? It’s Up to You
Why Statistics?
A Five-Minute History of Statistics
Statistics: What It Is (and Isn't)
Tooling Around With the Analysis ToolPak
What Am I Doing in a Statistics Class?
Ten Ways to Use This Book (and Learn Statistics at the Same Time!)
About Those Icons
Key to Difficulty Icons
Key to "How Much Excel" Icons
Glossary
Summary
Time to Practice
Chapter 1a. All Your Need to Know About Formulas and Functions
What's a Formula?
What's a Function?
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 1b. All You Need to Know About Using the Amazing Data Analysis Toolpak
A Look at a Data Analysis Tool
Don't Have It?
Part II: Sigma Freud and Descriptive Statistics
Chapter 2. Computing and Understanding Averages: Means to an End
Computing the Mean
Things to Remember
Computing the Median
Things to Remember
Computing the Mode
Using the Amazing Analysis ToolPak to Compute Descriptive Statistics
When to Use What
Summary
Time to Prctice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 3. Vive la Différence: Understanding Variability
Why Understading Variability Is Important
Computing the Range
Computing the Standard Deviation
Things to Remember
Computing the Variance
Using the Amazing Analysis ToolPak (AGAIN)
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 4. A Picture Really Is Worth a Thousand Words
Why Illustrate Data?
Ten Ways to a Great Figure (Eat Less and Exercise More?)
Fist Things First: Creating a Frequency Distribution
The Plot Thickens: Creating a Histogram
Fat and Skinny Frequency Distributions
Excellent Charts
Excellent Charts Part Deux: Making Charts Pretty
Other Cool Charts
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 5. Ice Cream and Crime: Computing Correlation Coefficients
What Are Correlations All About?
Things to Remember
Computing a Simple Correlation Coefficient
More Excel--Bunches of Correlatios à la Excel
Using the Amazing Analysis ToolPak to Compute Corelations
Understanding What the Correlation Coefficient Means
As More Ice Cream Is Eaten ... the Crime Rate Goes Up (or Association Versus Causality)
Other Cool Correlations
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Part III: Taking Chances for Fun and Profit
Chapter 6. Hypotheticals and You: Testing Your Questions
So You Want to Be a Scientist ...
The Null Hypothesis
The Research Hypothesis
What Makes a Good Hypothesis?
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 7. Are Your Curves Normal? Probability and Why It Counts
Why Probability?
The Normal Curve (a.k.a. the Bell-Shaped Curve)
Our Favorite Standard Score: The z Score
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Part IV: Significantly Different: Using Inferential Statistics
Chapter 8. Significantly Significant: What It Means for You and Me
The Concept of Significance
Significance Versus Meaningfulness
An Introduction to Inferential Statistics
An Introduction to Tests of Significance
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 9. t(ea) for Two: Tests Between the Means of Different Groups
Introduction to the t Test for Independent Samples
Computing the Test Statistic
Using the Amazing Data Analysis ToolPak to Compte the t Value
Special Effects: Are Those Differences for Real?
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 10. t(ea) for Two (Again): Tests Between the Means of Related Groups
Introduction to the t Test for Dependent Samples
Computing the Test Statistic
Using the Amazing Data Analysis ToolPak to Compute the t Value
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 11. Two Groups Too Many? Try Analysis of Variance
Introduction to Analysis of Variance
Computing the F Test Statistic
Using the Amazing Data Analysis ToolPak to Compute the F Value
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 12. Two Too Many Factors: Factorial Analysis of Variance: A Brief Introduction
Introduction to Factorial Analysis of Variance
The Main Event: Main Effects in Factorial ANOVA
Even More Interesting: Interaction Effects
Computing the ANOVA F Statistic Using the Amazing Data Analysis ToolPak
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 13. Cousins or Just Good Friends? Testing Relationships Using the Correlation Coefficient
Introduction to Testing the Correlation Coefficient
Computing the Test Statistic
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 14. Predicting Who’ll Win the Super Bowl: Using Linear Regression
What Is Prediction All About?
The Logic of Prediction
Drawing the World's Best Line (for Your Data)
How Good Is Our Prediction?
The More Predictors the Better? Maybe
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 15. What to Do When You’re Not Normal: Chi-Square and Some Other Nonparametric Tests
Introduction to Nonparametric Statistics
Introduction to One-Sample Chi-Square
Computing the Chi-Square Test Statistic
Other Nonparametric Tests You Should Know About
Summary
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 16. Just the Truth: An Introduction to Understanding Reliability and Validity
An Introduction to Reliability and Validity
All About Measurement Scales
Reliability--Doing It Again Until You Get It Right
Validity--Whoa! Wat Is the Truth?
Validity and Reliability: Reallly Close Cousins
Time to Practice
Answers to Practice Questions
Chapter 17. Some Other (Important) Statistical Procedures You Should Know About
Multivariate Analysis of Variance
Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance
Analysis of Covariance
Multiple Regression
Factor Analysis
Path Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling
Summary
Chapter 18. A Statistical Software Sampler
Selecting the Perfect Statistics Software
What's Out There
Summary
Part V: Ten Things You’ll Want to Know and Remember
Chapter 19. The Ten (or More) Best Internet Sites for Statistics Stuff
Tons and Tons of Resources
Calculators Galore!
Who's Who and What's Happened
It's All Here
HyperStat
Data? You Want Data?
More and More and More and More Resources
Plain, But Fun
How About Studying Statistics in Stockholm?
Online Statistical Teaching Materials
More and More and More Stuff
Chapter 20. The Ten Commandments of Data Collection
Appendix A: Excel-erate your Learning: All You Need to Know About Excel
Appendix B: Tables
Appendix C: The Data Sets
Glossary
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"In this Excel edition of his popular text, Salkind provides tools students need to use Excel along with basics of statistics for a first or second course. Using an informal writing style and humorous cartoons, he walks students through the use of Excel for statistical analyses and overviews analytical techniques. Other reader-friendly features include top ten lists, numerous tips and margin icons, and a glossary. "— Sci Tech

Book News

"Firmly recommending it! . . . The Excel directions and examples are wonderfully clear. A valuable tool for the multitudes who are not going to be statisticians but who face careers replete with data summaries they will need to assimilate and understand. "— N.W Schillow

Science & Technology

"In this Excel edition of his popular text, Salkind provides tools students need to use Excel along with basics of statistics for a first or second course. Using an informal writing style and humorous cartoons, he walks students through the use of Excel for statistical analyses and overviews analytical techniques. Other reader-friendly features include top ten lists, numerous tips and margin icons, and a glossary. "

Book News - Sci Tech

"Firmly recommending it! . . . The Excel directions and examples are wonderfully clear. A valuable tool for the multitudes who are not going to be statisticians but who face careers replete with data summaries they will need to assimilate and understand."

Science & Technology - N.W Schillow

"In this Excel edition of his popular text, Salkind provides tools students need to use Excel along with basics of statistics for a first or second course. Using an informal writing style and humorous cartoons, he walks students through the use of Excel for statistical analyses and overviews analytical techniques. Other reader-friendly features include top ten lists, numerous tips and margin icons, and a glossary."

Book News - SciTech