< Back Textbooks, page 4 of 4 Next >
Site highly rated by

Inferential Statistics


Inferential Statistics is available as a paperback book at £8.50 and also as an integrated multimedia teaching program and e-book that can be downloaded and installed for only £6.

The book has the same light-hearted style as the program, enlivened by many cartoons. It explains how data can be used to make statistical inferences and describes how various statistical tests are used and interpreted.

The computer program covers the same material in a different way. It contains Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Introduction to Statistics along with its Demo and Glossary.

Within the program, a Read Book button opens the electronic book at a page relevant to the current topic. You can then browse the book or return to the program at the point where you left it.


Inferential Statistics book

Table of Contents

1: Making inferences about populations

Generalizing from a sample to a population

Probability and chance

Statistical tests

Type 1 and Type 2 errors

Choosing an acceptable significance level

The Null Hypothesis

Interpreting a non-significant result

Directional and non-directional tests


2: The characteristics of significance tests

Using statistical tables

Parametric and non-parametric tests of significance

Selecting a suitable statistical test

The sum of squares (SS)

Degrees of freedom (df)

The standard error (SE)

How statistical tests in this unit are organized


3: Measurements that occur in pairs

One-sample t-test (related t-test)

Degrees of freedom in a one-sample t-test

Drawing conclusions from significant results

What if the result is not significant?

Wilcoxon test (T)

Sign test

What if tests disagree?

Which test should we use?


4: Measurements that are not in pairs

Two-sample t-test

Interpreting significant and non-significant outcomes.

Mann-Whitney (U) test

What if our groups are too large for tables D and E?

An example using the z calculation


5: Categories in a single sample using Chi-squared

Degrees of freedom in chi-squared

What does the chi-squared result mean?

Yates's correction for continuity

Explaining a significant outcome

The Null Hypothesis need not be that all probabilities are equal

Sign test (again)


6: Categories in two or more samples

Comparing Victoria's sample with Albert's

Median test

Comparing the outcomes of various tests

Rules for using chi-squared

More than two categories; more than two samples

Determining the number of df


Answers to the self-assessment questions


Statistical tables

Summary of the statistical methods in this unit