Statistics For The Terrified (4th Edition) [Paperback]

Gerald Kranzler (Author), Janet Moursund (Author), John H. Kranzler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0131930117 | ISBN-13: 978-0131930117 | Edition: 4

Written in a personal and informal style, this book helps readers make the leap from apprehension to comprehension.  Statistics For The Terrified 4/e  teaches students how to use SPSS, one of the most widely used statistical software packages. This book successfully encourages readers grasp the meaning of basic statistical concepts and to solve statistical problems through a unique blend of humor, logic, and common sense. Examples problems are provided using SPSS for every key concept along with step-by-step assistance, without the need for lengthy theoretical discussions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Kranzler and Moursund offer reluctant, math phobic statistics students a unique blend of humor and common sense in their brief introduction to statistics for the social sciences. Their objective is two-fold: (1) to give students an understanding of the concepts and computations of basic statistics, and (2) to train students to overcome math anxiety and avoidance responses that interfere with learning. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Statistics for the Terrified, 3/E, is a user-friendly introduction to elementary statistics, intended primarily for the reluctant, math anxious/avoidant person. Written in a personal and informal style, with healthy doses of humor and encouragement, the aim of the book is to help readers make the leap from apprehension to comprehension of elementary statistics. The book presents state-of-the-art, empirically supported self-help strategies (based on the cognitive behavioral techniques of rational emotive therapy) that help readers manage their math anxiety so they can relax and build confidence while still learning statistics. For those who need to learn statistics to further their career. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (September 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131930117
• ISBN-13: 978-0131930117
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Supplemental Text for Statistical Analysis at Any Level, October 28, 2005

By 

Matthew P. Arsenault (SW Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistics for the Terrified, Third Edition (Paperback)

For those of us with mathmatical weakness, an understandable work on basic statistical methods is a godsend. Having found myself in a graduate level econometrics course, Statistics For the Terrified is rarely out of reach. All too often statstics manuals, texts and instructors speak in tounges not always understood by the uninformed. However, Stats for the Terrified allows the reader to look up concepts and terminolgy and actually understand the explanations. The authors use few formulas to explain concepts, and when mathmatical equations are a necessity, the methods are explained in such a way that the Greek symbols and letters make sense. Indeed, regardless of field, Statistics for the Terrified is helpful in any work which requires statistical anaylysis.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good enough to get by not great enough to use., November 21, 2006

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistics for the Terrified (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I have taught a basic statistics class at the college level nearly twenty times. Since the students who take the class range from the math major to the nursing and psychology majors, I have seen a great deal of math anxiety. However, I cannot say that I have ever seen a student terrified. Anxious, yes, terrified no. Therefore, when I cracked open this book, my presupposition was that the title is overstated for effect.

That opinion was not changed as I read through the book. It covers all of the topics one considers essential to basic statistics, and to do statistics, one must be able to handle mathematical formulas. The authors place a great deal of emphasis on the fact that mathematical formulas are abbreviations. This is essential to understanding them, as at times mathematics is a very compact language.

While there is a bit more light-heartedness in this book than in other statistics books, I really do not see where it will relax the severely anxious student. In the end, the greatest hurdle to being able to do statistics is realizing that it is a hurdle that can be leapt over. No amount of cutesy dialog or cartoons can substitute for clear explanations of what the symbols mean. Some of my non-traditional students have told me that they find barely relevant cartoons to be a distraction at best and an annoyance at worst. I have no plans to adopt this book as a textbook or ever recommend it for self-study. The explanations are too brief and there are not enough worked examples.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book, September 8, 2003

By 

James J. O'Heare "James" (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistics for the Terrified, Third Edition (Paperback)

I used this text in my undergraduate staistics course for my B.S. in Psychology. I was dreading the course because I barely made it out od high school math and that was 17 years ago! But the book got me through it. I actually got several books along with it that were basic in case I needed back-up perspective. I found them all hard to understand except this text. I founf is clear and step by step, just what I needed. This is a great text if you want to pick up basic stats and your atrrified.