Chapter One (Salkind) Statistics of Sadistics? An Overview of This ChapterIn this chapter we cover the following items … Part One: Why Statistics? Part Two: A 5-Minute History of Statistics Part Three: Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t) Part Four: What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class? Part Five: An Eye Toward The Future * Part One Why Statistics? Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics makes you groan: I don’t like math I don’t understand math. Statistics are tough. Why do I even need this statistics stuff? Why can’t I just let a computer do statistics for me? * Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics makes you groan : I don’t plan on doing research when I graduate, so learning statistics is waste of time. The minute I leave class, I won’t remember any of this stuff. Those odd Greek symbols ( µ Σ σ ) make no sense! And a few other biggies … * Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics makes you groan : What am I supposed to do with a formula as complex as this? Or this? * Why Statistics?Although you might have some trepidation about statistics and their applications, this course is designed to help you see past your fears, skepticism, and anxiousness about statistics I know statistics may scare a lot of you, but I think that is mostly because you don’t have the foundation yet to understand when, how, and why you should use statistics. But don’t let fear of the unknown prevent you from getting that knowledge. In a month, you might actually think methods is fun! * Part Two A 5-Minute History Of Statistics A 5-Minute History of StatisticsImagine a caveman looking for food. He comes across a huge herd of bison, and he knows he can kill them all now OR come back time and time again. What does he do? What information does he use to make his decision about how many to kill and eat? If you said counting, you’re absolutely correct! Why deplete the food source if you only need a few bison at a time to live? Why not take only what you need and come back for more later? As our earliest ancestors came to know, counting is not only a good idea, it is a useful skill A 5-Minute History of StatisticsWe have come a long way from counting bison, as has our skills in trying to predict today what we hope to find tomorrow. A great deal of statistics compares our expectations with reality. If I expect XYZ to occur, will it? If it does occur, how confident can I be that I understand WHY it occurred. You’ll learn about a wide variety of statistics in this course, with some stats based on correlations (a relationship among variables) and some based on causation (A leads to B). A 5-Minute History of StatisticsCorrelational Research In correlational research, there is a relationship between two variables. That is, variables A and B are linked somehow When variable A increases, B also increases The more I like the color green, the mo.

1. Chapter One (Salkind)
Statistics of Sadistics?
An Overview of This ChapterIn this chapter we cover the
following items …
Part One: Why Statistics?
Part Two: A 5-Minute History of Statistics
Part Three: Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)
Part Four: What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class?
Part Five: An Eye Toward The Future
*
Part One
Why Statistics?
Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics
makes you groan:

2. I don’t like math
I don’t understand math.
Statistics are tough.
Why do I even need this statistics stuff?
Why can’t I just let a computer do statistics for me?
*
Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics
makes you groan :
I don’t plan on doing research when I graduate, so learning
statistics is waste of time.
The minute I leave class, I won’t remember any of this stuff.
Those odd Greek symbols ( µ Σ σ ) make no sense!
And a few other biggies …
*
Why Statistics?There may be dozens of reasons why statistics
makes you groan :
What am I supposed to do with a formula as complex as this?

3. Or this?
*
Why Statistics?Although you might have some trepidation about
statistics and their applications, this course is designed to help
you see past your fears, skepticism, and anxiousness about
statistics
I know statistics may scare a lot of you, but I think that is
mostly because you don’t have the foundation yet to understand
when, how, and why you should use statistics.
But don’t let fear of the unknown prevent you from getting that
knowledge. In a month, you might actually think methods is
fun!
*
Part Two
A 5-Minute History Of Statistics

4. A 5-Minute History of StatisticsImagine a caveman looking for
food. He comes across a huge herd of bison, and he knows he
can kill them all now OR come back time and time again. What
does he do? What information does he use to make his decision
about how many to kill and eat?
If you said counting, you’re absolutely correct! Why deplete the
food source if you only need a few bison at a time to live? Why
not take only what you need and come back for more later?
As our earliest ancestors came to know, counting is not only a
good idea, it is a useful skill
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsWe have come a long way from
counting bison, as has our skills in trying to predict today what
we hope to find tomorrow.
A great deal of statistics compares our expectations with reality.
If I expect XYZ to occur, will it? If it does occur, how
confident can I be that I understand WHY it occurred.
You’ll learn about a wide variety of statistics in this course,
with some stats based on correlations (a relationship among
variables) and some based on causation (A leads to B).
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsCorrelational Research
In correlational research, there is a relationship between two
variables. That is, variables A and B are linked somehow
When variable A increases, B also increases
The more I like the color green, the more I’ll tend to buy green
clothes

5. A 5-Minute History of StatisticsCorrelational Research
In correlational research, there is a relationship between two
variables. That is, variables A and B are linked somehow
Or maybe when variable A decreases, B also decreases
If I have a low opinion of Brussel sprouts, my likelihood of
buying those disgusting green vegetables decreases
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsCorrelational Research
In correlational research, there is a relationship between two
variables. That is, variables A and B are linked somehow
Or it could be that as A increases, B decreases
As I watch more TV (no studying!), my grades decrease
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsCorrelational Research
Some of the first “statistics” come from this correlation domain.
Francis Galton, for example, studied intelligence by looking at
the similarity of intelligence among members of the same
family
He used a correlation coefficient technique to assess this
relationship (we’ll get to those in Chapter 5 - Salkind!)

6. Other early researchers looked at statistics in agricultural areas,
astronomy, or politics. While such group statistics are common,
other early researchers focused on single cases …
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsSingle-Case Experimental
Designs
When it comes to human behavior, many early psychological
researchers focused on single-case experimental designs
As far back as 1860, Gustav Fechner explored human sensory
processes by developing the concepts of sensory thresholds and
just noticeable differences
Imagine a regular staple (unstapled!). It has two prongs, right?
Now, if you pressed the two prongs of this staple into your skin,
would you feel two prongs or just one?
Research by Fechner and others shows that we have different
sensory thresholds for different body parts
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsSingle-Case Experimental
Designs
When it comes to human behavior, many early psychological
researchers focused on single-case experimental designs
Fechner:
That is, the receptors in our skin are NOT distributed in a
uniform way in our bodies.
Some areas—such as our fingers and lips—have more touch
receptors than other areas, such as our backs. That's one reason

7. why we are more sensitive to touch in our fingers and face than
on our backs. We can feel both staple prongs easier on our faces
than on our backs!
How Far Do Prongs Need To Be Apart Before We Can Detect
Two Prongs?
SiteThreshold DistanceFingers2-3 mmUpper Lip5 mmCheek6
mmNose7 mmPalm10 mmForehead15 mmFoot20
mmSiteThreshold DistanceBelly30 mmForearm35 mmUpper
arm39 mmBack39 mmShoulder41 mmThigh42 mmCalf45 mm

8. A 5-Minute History of StatisticsSingle-Case Experimental
Designs
Think about some other early single-case experimenters …
Herman Ebbinghaus: Focused on verbal learning and memory,
often testing himself with “nonsense” syllables
He’d memorize list of syllables, like “FHS” and “UDP” and
then quiz himself on these lists
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsSingle-Case Experimental
Designs
Think about some other early single-case experimenters …
John Watson looked at fear responses in “Little Albert”. Do you
know about this infant, Little Albert? Watson presented Albert
with a white rat, which Albert loved. Then Watson clanged a
hammer into a metal pole, scaring the baby in the presence of
the rat. Soon, Albert paired the loud noise with the presence of
the rat, and Albert developed a rat phobia.
The list of single-case experiments goes on, of course, but our
statistical understanding in psychology leapt forward with the
advent of complex techniques like the t-Test and ANOVA
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsExperimental Procedures

9. Statisticians like Ronald Fisher developed powerful statistics in
the early 1920s to better understand the relationships among
variables and between groups
Today, statistics are easier to run and understand given the
technological tools at our disposal (like SPSS on computers!)
But just because we have tools that run statistics fast doesn’t
mean we should neglect our understanding of those statistics
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsExperimental Procedures
The good thing to know (especially in this course) is that the
statistical tests we use (and the reasons behind why and when
we use them) have a degree of standardization.
A 5-Minute History of StatisticsExperimental Procedures
Such standardization lets us use the same kind of analyses
across a wide variety of studies, providing us with a common
language about results. It also gives us the ability to compare
one study to another
This class will each you that common language!

10. Part Three
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)What are statistics?
Statistics describe a set of tools and techniques used for
describing, organizing, and interpreting information or data
Data might involve scores on a test, speed with which problems
are solved, the number of complaints that get called in to an
Apple center’s help line when the newest iPhone goes berserk,
etc.
In this course, we will concentrate on two primary statistics:
1. Descriptive Statistics
2. Inferential Statistics
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics are used to organize and describe the
characteristics of a collection of data (a data set or just data)
In your introductory statistics class, you probably came across a
few of these “descriptive” statistics, including:
A. The Mode
B. The Median
C. The Mean
D. The Standard Deviation
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
A. The mode is simply the most frequently occurring response

11. in a data set. Below, which is the most frequently occurring
food (the most preferred food)?
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusBeth20ChineseOn-CampusRoss19ItalianOff-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
B. The median is the middle number in a distribution. Think
about the following data set. If you ranked ages from low to
high, which one falls in the middle?
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusBeth20ChineseOn-CampusRoss19ItalianOff-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus

12. Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
C. The mean is simply the average number. In this case, we
again only look at ranked data. What is the average age?
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusRoss19ItalianOff-CampusBeth20ChineseOn-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus

13. Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
C. The mean is simply the average number.
What is the mean for preferred food?
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusRoss19ItalianOff-CampusBeth20ChineseOn-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
See, you’re a statistician already! Now for the hard one:
D. The standard deviation, or the average amount of variation in
a set of scores or the score’s deviation from the mean

14. NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusRoss19ItalianOff-CampusBeth20ChineseOn-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
D. The standard deviation (SD):
What is the SD for age?
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusRoss19ItalianOff-CampusBeth20ChineseOn-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus

15. Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)1. Descriptive Statistics
D. The standard deviation (SD):
What is the SD for age?
Here’s your formula … Now solve!
NameAgePreferred FoodLiving SituationJill17ItalianOff-
campusAlfred18SaladsOff-CampsGary18MexicanOff-
CampusRoss19ItalianOff-CampusBeth20ChineseOn-
CampusAmanda21ThaiOn-CampusStephanie22GermanOff-
Campus

16. Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)2. Inferential Statistics
Inferential statistics are used to make inferences (get it!) from a
smaller group of data (a sample) to a larger one (a population)
Think about our class, which is a small sample of all psych
majors at FIU. While I may want to know if the material that
you see in this course helps you understand statistics, I may
want to infer whether the course material would help other FIU
psychology majors who are NOT currently taking stats.
That is, can I infer that YOUR performance would apply to the
LARGER population of psychology majors at FIU?
Statistics: What It Is (And Isn’t)2. Inferential Statistics
We will learn a lot more about inferential statistics when we get
to chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12 toward the end of the semester.
For now, let’s get back to the question we started this chapter
with: What am I doing in a statistics class?
Part Four
What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class?
What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class?What am I doing in a
statistics class?
Probably the most common answer among psych students is,
“It’s required for my major!” But statistics will help you in

17. many other important ways
1. Taking this course shows your level of commitment to
psychology
2. This course will give you an intellectual challenge in both
writing about and engaging in psychological research
What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class?What am I doing in a
statistics class?
Probably the most common answer among psych students is,
“It’s required for my major!” But statistics will help you in
many other important ways
3. More importantly, understanding foundational concepts in
research starting from the ground-up will help you as you move
to higher level undergraduate courses
By the end of the two semester Research Methods and Design
courses, you’ll have a better understanding of idea generation,
study design, study implementation, data analysis, and
publication
What Am I Doing In A Statistics Class?What am I doing in a
statistics class?
Probably the most common answer among psych students is,
“It’s required for my major!” But statistics will help you in
many other important ways
4. If you plan a career in any social, behavioral, or biological
field, this course will give you the foundation many graduate
programs expect of their incoming students
5. You can brag that you completed a tough course! (And it will
be tough, but entirely doable. I think you’ll be surprised at just
how much you will learn!)

18. 6. Plus, it IS required, but I hope you like it anyway!
Part Five
An Eye Toward The Future
An Eye Toward The FutureThe next few classes …
Next class we are going to jump to a different book (Smith and
Davis, The Psychologist as Detective), so make sure to read
Chapter 5 in Smith and Davis: “Using The Scientific Method”
Be aware that we will continue with Smith and Davis for several
lectures, coming back to Salkind later this semester
An Eye Toward The FutureThe next few classes …
Smith and Davis will help us explore some of the foundational
topics we need when beginning research, giving us a chance to
look at characteristics of hypotheses, variables, and scientific
methodology!