Statistics in psychology: making sense of numbers

Abstract

Sooner or later the student of psychology must face a task that fills many with dread, namely that of trying to make sense of row upon row of numbers. Statistics play an important role in the scientific study of behaviour, where the researcher is interested in quantifying differences, relationships or associations between measurements that have been gathered during an investigation. In this chapter we will consider the ways in which larger ‘pools’ of data may be summarized, and also look at some of the statistical tests that psychologists have at their disposal when they wish to draw conclusions from any comparisons made.