This accessible guide is an ideal starter for students who are puzzled by statistics and quantitative data analysis. Taking students step-by-step through the statistical process, it introduces the steps involved in successfully describing, analyzing and interpreting data and explains the logic which underpins these processes. Bite-sized chapters provide practical guidance for each stage of the process, from defining the research question and designing questionnaires through to using the appropriate statistical tests and analyses for the task and reporting and interpreting statistics.
Clear and concise, this will be a go-to resource for undergraduates of all disciplines who need to get to grips with basic statistics on their course.
Introduction
PART 1: GETTING STARTED
1. What does your assignment ask you to do?
2. How will you do it?
3. Defining your research question
4. Tips for designing your questionnaire
5. How to enter your data into a spreadsheet
PART 2: UNDERSTANDING AND DESCRIBING YOUR DATA
6. What type of data do you have?
7. Descriptive statistics
8. What plot should you use?
PART 3: HOW DO STATISTICAL TESTS WORK?
9. What is a statistical hypothesis?
10. Using probability distributions in statistical tests
11. Statistics, "errors" and interpretation
PART 4: WHAT STATISTICAL TEST DO YOU NEED?
12. The statistics signpost
13. Statistical flowcharts
14. Case studies
PART 5: THE STATISTICAL PROCESS
15. You the researcher
16. You the interpreter
Symbols explained
Useful resources
References
Index.
