Customer Reviews

Comprehending Behavioral Statistics (with CD-ROM)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is both comprehensive and realistic (e.g. the author recognizes that introductory students can handle interval and ratio data similarly). I have taught one semester of intro stats using this textbook. I'll need several more semesters before I truly feel comfortable teaching it, but I can give a preliminary report on the book:

Best part: The eyeballing techniques. The formulas behind behavioral statistics are far from simple, but the distinctions they make are related to quantitative analyses (visual and otherwise) which the students already know how to perform. Can you balance a flat ruler on a pencil? Can you tell Pigpen from Charlie Brown? If so, you can see in the data some of the distinctions that we make with measures of central tendency (like averages) and of variation.

2nd best part: The audio CD. As another reviewer suggested, it's not slick, it won't make any radio charts, okay, but it's the author putting each of the core concepts in perspective. Hurlburt is a good writer, even with the rough spots I note below, and his prose looks daunting to some introductory-level students. I don't know if more than a few of my students tried the CD, but it definitely helped a few of them get more out of the book.

Rough patches: The Student's t distribution is snuck in somewhat abruptly, in comparison to other explanations. There are also a few paragraphs in the ANOVA chapter which many of my students found indigestible, and with reason. And likely no one else will care, but some of the data sets presented say precisely whether they are simulated or actual data -- why don't they all?

More good stuff: The author does not think that everyone on earth longs to be a statistician. (Another intro textbook I considered bases its entire discussion of ANOVA on degrees of freedom, which is no doubt mathematically sound, but I had to laugh, since so many of us in the graduate program were still stumbling on that concept! Group means are a little more broadly understood.) In this book, it takes a second to figure out the answer index, but after that you're fine, and the exercises offered follow the lessons well.

If the publisher would produce power points with the graphs from the book and give the author some time and maybe 5 more pages to improve the occasional rough patches, this text would be more useful and probably more widely used.

Book came quickly. When I needed the forgotten CD, they worked fast to remedy and CD arrived within 3 days.
No problems. Would use them again.

I was truly fearful of statistics but I think this book saved me. I thought the textbook was readable, had excellent examples, the terms were clear and the text is written in an applied way. The people who rated this text harshly would not have been pleased with any stats text,after all it is stats...what math is not dry. HELLOOOO!?

Imagine my surprise when I thought I was getting an affordable softcover version of Hurlburt's excellent Psych. stats. text, to find that in fact Amazon had not listed the title properly. This book is in fact the STUDY GUIDE to the text, and like all study guides is overpriced and of dubious merit (the sample problems in the original are entirely adequate). I thought I could get this thorough, easy-to-read, well-illustrated and tabled text at a great price (and easily portable format) but I WAS BURNED by Brooks/Cole (who apparently don't actually offer the softcover) and Amazon (who apparently couldn't be bothered to make the distinction when listing the title). That being said, in an ideal world (where few aspiring clinicians struggle), the original text is in fact worth the $81.95 hardcover. I have only been able to bring myself to read half a dozen statistics textbooks, but this one has been the most "user-friendly" in terms of its layout, tables, language and flow of material presentation. I wish my professor had used it in undergrad intro. stats.

If you've ever taken a statistics class, you won't really need this book.

That's because it will confuse you more.

It's dry, boring, and as far as textbooks go, not very effective in helping you learn the material. This book is designed for psychology majors, and as far as psych texts go, this is a horrible text.
However, Hurlburt really tries. He has a CD that's helpful, albeit kinda lame, but it definitely puts the material into a better format than the actual text.