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Andy Field 2018
First edition published 2000
Second edition published 2005
Third edition published 2009. Reprinted 2009, 2010, 2011 (twice), 2012
Fourth edition published 2013. Reprinted 2014 (twice), 2015, 2016, 2017
Throughout the book, screenshots and images from IBM SPSS Statistics software (SPSS) are reprinted courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation. SPSS Inc. was acquired by IBM in October 2009.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954636
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-5264-1951-4
ISBN 978-1-5264-1952-1 (pbk)
Editor: Jai Seaman
Development editors: Sarah Turpie & Nina Smith
Assistant editor, digital: Chloe Statham
Production editor: Ian Antcliff
Copyeditor: Richard Leigh
Indexer: David Rudeforth
Marketing manager: Ben Griffin-Sherwood
Cover design: Wendy Scott
Typeset by: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed in Germany by: Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH
Illustration: James Iles
Preface
Karma Police, arrest this man, he talks in maths, he buzzes like a fridge, hes like a detuned radio
Radiohead, Karma Police, OK Computer(1997)
Introduction
Many behavioural and social science students (and researchers for that matter) despise statistics. Most of us have a non-mathematical background, which makes understanding complex statistical equations very difficult. Nevertheless, the evil goat-warriors of Satan force our non-mathematical brains to apply themselves to what is the very complex task of becoming a statistics expert. The end result, as you might expect, can be quite messy. The one weapon that we have is the computer, which allows us to neatly circumvent the considerable disability of not understanding mathematics. Computer programs such as IBM SPSS Statistics, SAS, R, JASP and the like provide an opportunity to teach statistics at a conceptual level without getting too bogged down in equations. The computer to a goat-warrior of Satan is like catnip to a cat: it makes them rub their heads along the ground and purr and dribble ceaselessly. The only downside of the computer is that it makes it really easy to make a complete idiot of yourself if you dont understand what youre doing.