Exploring Statistics: Tales of Distributions

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• Data sets are approached with an attitude of exploration

• Effect size indexes and confidence intervals are promoted

• A web-based, test-planning exercise helps students prepare for tests

• The basics of experimental design are included

• Interpretation is emphasized throughout

• Changes in statistical practice over the years are acknowledged

• The history of statistics is a recurring theme

• Examples and problems come from a variety of disciplines and everyday life

• Most problems are based on actual studies rather than fabricated scenarios

• Problems are interspersed within a chapter, not grouped at the end

• Answers to problems are extensive – 52 pages of detailed answers

• A final chapter, Choosing Tests and Writing Interpretations requires active responses to comprehensive questions

• Computer software analyses are illustrated with IBM SPSS printouts

• Important words and phrases are defined in the margin when they first occur

• Appendix A is designed to help alleviate anxiety and provide encouragement.

• Objectives at the beginning of each chapter serve for orientation and later review

• Key Terms are listed for each chapter

• Clues to the Future alert students to concepts that come up again

• Error Detection boxes tell ways to detect mistakes or prevent them

• Transition Passages alert students to a change in focus in chapters that follow

• Comprehensive Problems encompass all (or most) of the techniques in a chapter

• What Would You Recommend? exercises require choices among techniques from several chapters

• Additional practice problems in arithmetic, algebra, and complex operations are in Free Materials on this site.

• Additional attention to criticism of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST)

• Reorganized Chapter 9, moving effect size index to the beginning of the chapter

• Reorganized Chapter 10, moving effect size index and confidence intervals to the beginning of the chapter

• Appendix A, Arithmetic and Algebra Review completely revised and retitled, Getting Started.

• Added a free Test Planning Exercise to this site

• Added new problems that illustrate contemporary research; eliminated some problems

• Updated all problems and examples that use contemporary data

• Revised categorization of variables to distinguish discrete variables

• Eliminated the algebraic explanation of a straight line

• Many words, sentences, paragraphs, and examples revised to improve clarity and reflect current practice

• Practice problems in arithmetic, algebra, and complex operations added to Appendix A.

• Online interactive student Study Guide made available.