IMPORTANT REMINDERS

1. The following statistics can take either positive or negative values or a value of zero. (a) The Z statistic (b) The t statistic (b) The Pearson r statistic (d) The Spearman rs statistic The following statistics can take only positive values or a value of zero. (a) The F statistic (b) The 2 statistic (c) The MannWhitney U Statistic (d) The Wilcoxon T statistic (e) The KruskalWallis H statistic (f) All correlation coefficients derived from the 2 Test. [ , Cramers , and C ]. Range of values of Correlation Coefficients (a) The value of the Pearson r always lies between 1.00 and +1.00 [ i.e., 1.00 r 1.00 ] . (b) The value of the Spearman rs always lies between 1.00 and [ i.e.; 1.00 rs 1.00 ]. (c) The phi coefficient ( ) [derived from the 2 ]takes values between 0 and 1 [i.e., 0 1 ] (d)The Cramers [ derived from the 2 ] takes values between 0 and 1 [i.e., 0 1 ]. (e)The value of the Contingency Coefficient ( C) [derived from a 2 Table larger than a 2 2 Table ] is determined by the size of the Table. 4. F and H Tests These are nondirectional (twotailed) tests. 230
+1.00

2.

3.

EPILOGUE
TO THE STUDENT LEARNING TOWARDS AN EXAMINATION I urge all students who have read this book to remember Bacons famous rule: Read not to contradict or confute [to prove a person or an argument to be wrong ], nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. I hope that you have carefully chewed and digested this book to be able to confidently say that you have at last gained some understanding of the topics treated to be able to answer questions in inferential social statistics and pass with distinction. If you have merely tasted this book, then read over it again to swallow it and continue reading to the chewing and digesting stage. If you have not been able to even taste it, then the famous quote of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism applies to you: Either read or get out of the ministry! Within the context of acquiring knowledge, this means that either you keep on reading or you cease to be a student! TO THE STUDENT REASEARCHER In this book, all hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance, the lowest level of significance acceptable in Social Science research. However, a researchers aim in any research undertaking is to reject the null hypothesis and support the working (research) hypothesis at the highest possible level of significance (e.g., .01, .005, .001, .0001 levels). A research hypothesis that is supported at a high level of significance makes it more likely that another researcher replicating the study will also support the research hypothesis and thus add more credence to the findings from the study. This means that the actual level of significance at which the null hypothesis is rejected (or the research hypothesis is supported, i.e., the p- value) is what must be reported by the researcher, instead of always reporting results at the .05 level of significance. [Of course, if a result is significant at the .05 level but not beyond it, then it must be reported as such]. The researcher who is 231

interested in the procedural steps to follow in reporting results from data analysis at the actual levels of significance may consult: Opoku J.Y. (2005). A Short Guide to Research Writing in the Social Sciences and Education. (2nd ed.) Accra: Ghana Universities Press. Section 4.2.1.

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RECOMMENDED READING1
Agresti, A, & Finlay, B. (1997). Statistical methods for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Aron, A., & Aron, E.N. (1997). Statistics for the behavioural and social sciences: A brief course. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Aron, A., & Aron, E.N. (1999). Statistics for Psychology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. *Bruning, J.L., & Kintz B.L. (1979). Computational handbook of statistics (2nd ed.). Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman & Co. Cohen, L., & Holliday, M. (1982). London: Harper & Row. Statistics for social scientists.

Elifson, K.W., Runyon, R.P., & Haber A. (1990). Fundamentals of social statistics (2nd ed.). New York: McGrawHill. Evans, J.D. (1996). Straightforward statistics for the behavioral sciences. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Glass, G.V., & Stanley, J.C. (1970). Statistical methods in education and psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall. Gravetter, F.J., & Wallnau, L.B. (1996). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). Minneapolis, MN: West Publishing Co. Guilford, J.P., & Fruchter, B. (1978). Fundamental statistics in psychology and education (6th ed.). New York: McGrawHill. Harris, M.B. (1998). Basic statistics for behavioral science research (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Hays, W.L. (1973). Statistics for the social sciences. New York: Holt.
1

The reader is advised to consult the latest edition of any recommended book, where available.

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Jaccard, J., & Becker, M. (1990). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers. Korin, B.P.(1975). Statistical concepts for the social sciences. Cambridge: Winthrop Publishers. * McCall, R.B. (1980). Fundamental statistics for psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. McClave, J.T., & Dietrich II, F.H. (1989). A first course in statistics (3rd ed.). California: Dellen Publishing Co. Minium, E.W. (1978). Statistical reasoning in psychology and education (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley. Opoku, J.Y. (2006). Tutorial in statistics for social and educational research. Tema: Best Image Printers. Runyon, R.P., Coleman, K.A., & Pittengen, D.J. (1999). Fundamentals of behavioral statistics. New York: McGrawHill. *Siegel, S. (1956). Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. New York: McGrawHill. * Welkowitz, J.,Ewen R.B., & Cohen, J.(1976). Introductory statistics for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press. Wright, D.B. (1997). Understanding statistics: An introduction for the social sciences. London: Sage Publications. ------------------------------------------------* Highly recommended basic texts.

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