Statistics for Psychology: A Comprehensive Text 1st Edition Paperback – 1 January 2012

• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Publisher: McGraw Hill Education India
• Genre: Psychology
• ISBN: 9781259005053, 10-1-25900505-3

About The Authors

J. P. Verma is a Professor of Statistics. Other books by this author include – A Textbook On Sports Statistics, and Statistical Methods For Sports And Physical Education. His books are on the subject of Statistics and its applications. Dr. J. P. Verma has three Postgraduate degrees in Statistics, Computer Science, and Psychology, besides a Ph.D. In 2002, he was a visiting Fellow at the University of Sydney. He has conducted a number of workshops on Applied Statistics and Research Methodology. Currently he is Professor of Psychology at the Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education in Gwalior.

Muhammad Ghufran is a Professor of Psychology. He co-authored Statistics for Psychology: A Comprehensive Text with Dr. J. P. Verma. Dr. Muhammad Ghufran has extensive teaching and research experience of more than 20 years. His research interests include Social Psychology and Personality. He has written a book on guidance and counseling, and has published a number of research articles.

Summary 

Why is statistics necessary in the study of Psychology? Psychology is concerned with Human Behaviour, Character, and Abnormalities. Statistics deals in numbers. Statistics is a method that is used to make sense of data. The world is filled with data about so many things. Individual pieces of data have no real meaning, to be information, they must be collected and analyzed.

The method for Collecting and Analyzing data, drawing reasonable inferences from them, and presenting the findings as summaries, these are all the functions of statistics. Psychologists can use the summarized findings to determine the course of their therapies.

In Psychology, research studies are conducted frequently to identify certain behavior patterns and their causes. The researcher studies a related group, connected by behavior or by certain experiences. Then, the collective data is analyzed to arrive at meaningful conclusions.
When treating individual cases, these findings are of vital importance for they identify possible future behavior of the patient and can help design appropriate treatment. So, the study of statistics is essential for psychologists.

This book, Statistics for Psychology: A Comprehensive Text, comprehensively covers the entire syllabus for the subject as prescribed by the University Grant Commission. The book uses examples taken directly from psychological research. The book starts by explaining the importance of Statistics in Psychology. It then goes into Statistical Methods and Techniques used in Psychological research. It first explains Measurement and Scaling techniques.

The book then looks at Descriptive Analysis of Psychological data. It then discusses Probability and its Application in Psychology, Normal Distribution and its application, Graphical Presentation of Data, and Correlation and Regression techniques.  Statistics for Psychology: A Comprehensive Text then explains Sampling Techniques, Statistical Inference, Research Design in Psychology, Analysis of Variance, Non-Parametric Correlations, Non-Parametric Tests for Psychological Data, Analysis of Variance and Application of Factor Analysis in Psychological Data.

While the book has been specifically designed for students of Psychology, it will also help students in other disciplines like Management, Social Sciences, Education, Sociology etc.