Statistics in a Nutshell A Desktop Quick Reference

Sarah Boslaugh, Paul Andrew Watters0596510497, 9780596510497

Need to learn statistics as part of your job, or want some help passing a statistics course? Statistics in a Nutshell is a clear and concise introduction and reference that’s perfect for anyone with no previous background in the subject. This book gives you a solid understanding of statistics without being too simple, yet without the numbing complexity of most college texts. You get a firm grasp of the fundamentals and a hands-on understanding of how to apply them before moving on to the more advanced material that follows. Each chapter presents you with easy-to-follow descriptions illustrated by graphics, formulas, and plenty of solved examples. Before you know it, you’ll learn to apply statistical reasoning and statistical techniques, from basic concepts of probability and hypothesis testing to multivariate analysis. Organized into four distinct sections, Statistics in a Nutshell offers you:
Introductory material: Different ways to think about statistics Basic concepts of measurement and probability theory
Data management for statistical analysis Research design and experimental design How to critique statistics presented by others

Basic inferential statistics: Basic concepts of inferential statistics The concept of correlation, when it is and is not an appropriate measure of association Dichotomous and categorical data The distinction between parametric and nonparametric statistics

Advanced inferential techniques: The General Linear Model Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and MANOVA Multiple linear regression

Specialized techniques: Business and quality improvement statistics Medical and public health statistics Educational and psychological statistics
Unlike many introductory books on the subject, Statistics in a Nutshell doesn’t omit important material in an effort to dumb it down. And this book is far more practical than most college texts, which tend to over-emphasize calculation without teaching you when and how to apply different statistical tests. With Statistics in a Nutshell, you learn how to perform most common statistical analyses, and understand statistical techniques presented in research articles. If you need to know how to use a wide range of statistical techniques without getting in over your head, this is the book you want.

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Table of contents :
Statistics in a Nutshell……Page 1
Table of Contents……Page 7
Preface……Page 13
What Is Statistics?……Page 14
The Focus of This Book……Page 15
Statistics in the Age of Information……Page 16
Organization of This Book……Page 17
Conventions Used in This Book……Page 21
Safari® Books Online……Page 22
Paul Watters……Page 23
Basic Concepts of Measurement……Page 25
Nominal Data……Page 26
Ordinal Data……Page 27
Continuous and Discrete Data……Page 28
Operationalization……Page 29
Proxy Measurement……Page 30
True and Error Scores……Page 31
Reliability and Validity……Page 32
Reliability……Page 33
Measures of Agreement……Page 35
Validity……Page 36
Triangulation……Page 38
Bias in Sample Selection and Retention……Page 39
Information Bias……Page 41
Solution……Page 42
Probability……Page 45
About Formulas……Page 46
Trials……Page 47
Union……Page 48
Complement……Page 49
Mutual Exclusivity……Page 50
Permutations……Page 51
Combinations……Page 52
Defining Probability……Page 53
Conditional Probabilities……Page 54
Union of events that are not mutually exclusive……Page 55
Bayes’s Theorem……Page 56
Enough Exposition, Let’s Do Some Statistics!……Page 58
Dice, Coins, and Playing Cards……Page 59
Solution……Page 60
Solution……Page 61
Solution……Page 62
Closing Note: The Connection Between Statistics and Gambling……Page 63
Data Management……Page 65
An Approach, Not a Set of Recipes……Page 66
Codebooks……Page 67
The Rectangular Data File……Page 69
Spreadsheets and Relational Databases……Page 71
Inspecting a New Data File……Page 72
Missing Data……Page 75
Populations and Samples……Page 78
The Mean……Page 79
The Median……Page 81
Measures of Dispersion……Page 82
The Range and Interquartile Range……Page 83
The Variance and Standard Deviation……Page 84
Outliers……Page 86
Frequency Tables……Page 87
Bar Charts……Page 89
Pareto Charts……Page 92
The Stem-and-Leaf Plot……Page 94
The Boxplot……Page 95
The Histogram……Page 97
Bivariate Charts……Page 99
Scatterplots……Page 101
Line Graphs……Page 102
Exercises……Page 105
Answer……Page 106
Answer……Page 107
Answer……Page 108
Research Design……Page 109
Observational Studies……Page 110
Experimental Studies……Page 112
Ingredients of a Good Design……Page 113
Gathering Experimental Data……Page 114
Identifying Experimental Units……Page 115
Identifying Treatments and Controls……Page 116
Specifying Response Variables……Page 118
Inference and Threats to Validity……Page 120
Construct Validity……Page 122
Statistical Validity and Hypothesis Testing……Page 123
Eliminating Bias……Page 125
Blinding……Page 126
Blocking and Common Designs……Page 127
Example Experimental Design……Page 129
The Misuse of Statistics……Page 131
Common Problems……Page 132
Quick Checklist……Page 134
Research Design……Page 135
Sampling……Page 136
Descriptive Statistics……Page 137
Standard Error and Confidence Intervals……Page 138
Graphing……Page 139
t-tests……Page 142
ANOVA……Page 143
Linear regression……Page 144
Inferential Statistics……Page 149
Probability Distributions……Page 150
The Normal Distribution……Page 151
The Binomial Distribution……Page 153
Independent and Dependent Variables……Page 156
Populations and Samples……Page 157
Nonprobability Sampling……Page 158
Probability Sampling……Page 159
The Central Limit Theorem……Page 161
Hypothesis Testing……Page 164
Confidence Intervals……Page 168
p-values……Page 169
Data Transformations……Page 170
Conceptual Questions……Page 173
Solutions……Page 174
The t Distribution……Page 175
t-Tests……Page 176
t-Test Assumptions……Page 178
One-Sample t-Test……Page 179
Determining Confidence Intervals……Page 180
Two-Sample t-Test……Page 181
Repeated Measures t-Test……Page 184
Unequal Variance t-Test……Page 186
Effect Size and Power……Page 188
Exercises……Page 189
Question……Page 190
Answer……Page 191
Measuring Association……Page 193
Graphing Associations Through Scatterplots……Page 194
Quantitative Variables……Page 195
Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient……Page 200
Testing Statistical Significance……Page 203
Coefficient of Determination……Page 204
Spearman Rank-Order Coefficient……Page 207
Testing Statistical Significance……Page 208
Point-Biserial Correlation Coefficient……Page 209
Phi Correlation Coefficient……Page 210
Categorical Data……Page 212
The R¥C Table……Page 213
The Chi-Square Distribution……Page 214
The Chi-Square Test……Page 215
Fisher’s Exact Test……Page 220
McNemar’s Test for Matched Pairs……Page 221
Ordinal Variables……Page 223
The Likert and Semantic Differential Scales……Page 226
Question……Page 227
Answer……Page 228
Answer……Page 229
Answer……Page 230
Nonparametric Statistics……Page 231
Nonnormal Data……Page 232
Wilcoxon’s Rank Sum Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test……Page 233
Median Test……Page 237
Kruskal-Wallis H Test……Page 238
Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Rank Test……Page 241
Friedman Test……Page 243
Answer……Page 245
Question……Page 246
Answer……Page 247
Introduction to the General Linear Model……Page 248
The General Linear Model……Page 249
Linear Regression……Page 250
Assumptions……Page 255
One-Way ANOVA……Page 256
Post Hoc Tests……Page 262
Question……Page 263
Answer……Page 264
Answer……Page 265
Extensions of Analysis of Variance……Page 267
Two-Way ANOVA……Page 268
Three-Way ANOVA……Page 272
MANOVA……Page 274
ANCOVA……Page 277
Repeated Measures ANOVA……Page 279
Within-Subjects and Between-Subjects……Page 281
Within-Subjects and Between-Subjects and Covariates……Page 283
Multiple Regression Models……Page 288
Standardized Coefficients……Page 293
Proxy and Dummy Variables……Page 294
Regression Algorithms……Page 296
Forward……Page 298
Backward……Page 299
Common Problems with Multiple Regression……Page 301
Answer……Page 303
Question……Page 305
Answer……Page 306
Logistic Regression……Page 308
Logarithmic Transformations……Page 311
Polynomial Regression……Page 312
Overfitting……Page 316
Factor Analysis……Page 322
Cluster Analysis……Page 329
Discriminant Function Analysis……Page 333
Multidimensional Scaling……Page 336
Index Numbers……Page 339
Time Series……Page 343
Decision Analysis……Page 347
Minimax, Maximax, and Maximin……Page 349
Decision-Making Under Risk……Page 350
Decision Trees……Page 351
Quality Improvement……Page 352
Run Charts and Control Charts……Page 353
Question……Page 359
Question……Page 360
Answer……Page 361
Answer……Page 362
Measures of Disease Frequency……Page 363
Ratio, Proportion, and Rate……Page 364
Prevalence and Incidence……Page 366
Crude, Category-Specific, and Standardized Rates……Page 369
The Risk Ratio……Page 372
The Odds Ratio……Page 376
Confounding, Stratified Analysis, and the Mantel-Haenszel Common Odds Ratio……Page 378
Power Analysis……Page 382
Confidence Interval for a Proportion……Page 385
Question……Page 386
Answer……Page 388
Answer……Page 389
Educational and Psychological Statistics……Page 390
Percentiles……Page 391
Standardized Scores……Page 393
Test Construction……Page 394
Classical Test Theory: The True Score Model……Page 397
Reliability of a Composite Test……Page 398
Measures of Internal Consistency……Page 399
Split-Half Methods……Page 400
Coefficient Alpha……Page 401
Item Analysis……Page 403
Item Response Theory……Page 407
Answer……Page 412
Answer……Page 413
Review of Basic Mathematics……Page 415
Laws of Arithmetic……Page 416
Order of Operations……Page 417
Properties of Real Numbers……Page 418
Properties of Roots……Page 419
Solving Equations……Page 421
Systems of Equations……Page 422
Graphing Equations……Page 423
Linear Inequalities……Page 426
Fractions……Page 427
Factorials, Permutations, and Combinations……Page 429
Laws of Arithmetic and Real Numbers……Page 431
Solving Equations for x……Page 432
Fractions, Decimals, and Percents……Page 433
Laws of Arithmetic and Real Numbers……Page 434
Exponents, Roots, and Logarithms……Page 435
Linear Equalities……Page 436
Factorials, Permutations, and Combinations……Page 437
Introduction to Statistical Packages……Page 438
Minitab……Page 439
SPSS……Page 441
SAS……Page 444
R……Page 448
Microsoft Excel……Page 450
Preface……Page 455
Chapter2……Page 456
Chapter4……Page 457
Chapter7……Page 458
Chapter9……Page 459
Chapter13……Page 460
Chapter17……Page 461
Chapter18……Page 462
Chapter19……Page 463
SPSS……Page 464
R and S-Plus……Page 465
Excel……Page 466
Index……Page 467