Zechmeister and Posavac's unique, progressive pedagogical framework presents students with a model of analysis and interpretation called "I-D-E-A". This cutting edge model leads students through the processes of data inspection (I), description (D), estimating (E) confidence in their results, and announcing (A) their findings. Their friendly writing style and systematic approach to statistics involves the student in the topics presented. The authors stress the important first stage of data inspection and also demonstrate how both confidence intervals and effect sizes are complementary to traditional null hypothesis testing. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the understanding and interpretation of statistics and place less emphasis on computation, acknowledging and encouraging computer-assisted data analysis. Concrete examples at the beginning of each chapter illustrate the kinds of questions and data that will be considered in that section. Having this variety of examples increases the likelihood that a student will relate to at least one of them. Scenarios presented at the beginning of the chapter, which are referred to throughout the chapter so students can see how an example is affected by different stages of analysis and interpretation.

Author Biography

Emil J. Posavac (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Champaign) is Professor of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago where he has served as Director of the Applied Social Psychology Program and Chairman of the Psychology Department. He has consulted with a number of public and private organizations. He has published sixty papers and chapters, edited or co-edited six volumes on program evaluation and applied social psychology, and written numerous reports for health care and educational institutions. He is the author of "Program Evaluation: Methods and Case Studies." In 1990, he was awarded the Myrdal Award by the American Evaluation Association for his contributions to the advancement of program evaluation practice. Eugene B. Zechmeister (Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.) is currently a Professor of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago, where he has served as Director of the Graduate Experimental Psychology Program, Assistant Dean for Social Sciences, and Director of the Undergraduate Psychology Program. Along with teaching psychology, he has published extensively in the field of human learning and memory and has authored five books, including a Research Methods in Psychology text. In 1994, he was the recipient of the Sujack Award for Teaching Excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Zechmeister is a fellow in the American Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1,2,3).