AP 10: Statistics & Data Analysis Course Outline

1 Name of the Programme : M.A. in Applied Psychology (Clinical and

Counselling Practice)

2 Course No. and Title : AP 10

3 Status of the Course
4 Name of the Course
Teacher(s)
5 Course Commencement
Statistics and Data Analysis
: Basic Course
: 1. Sukanya Ray
2. Mr. Budhadeep Gondane
: 2 Semester
nd

6 Credit Hours : 2 Credits (30 hours)

7. Rationale for the Course:

Psychologists are interested in understanding a variety of phenomena and they use a wide variety
of methods and measures to study the objects of their interest. Regardless of the content or
conditions for study, statistics serve as important tools for making sense out of the data that are
collected. We need statistics in order to describe the data clearly, so that the findings can be
communicated to others. We also need statistics in order to use a specific data set as a basis for
more general conclusions. That is, we can use statistics to infer general conclusions from the data
collected. Psychological researchers generally follow a scientific approach. Knowledge of
statistics is important in the curricula of students in psychology. Reasons are twofold. First, in
other courses they deal with theories and research studies which rely on statistical analysis.
Second, they have to undertake research in which they have to handle, analyse and interpret data
Statistics is for these students a tool, a means of communicating knowledge which is needed to
read and evaluate surveys, experiments, and other studies dealing with substantive problems in
the field of psychology and education; and is also used in doing research while planning a study,
analysing the data, and interpreting the results. Both aspects rely on a knowledge base of
statistics and of methodology; the second also requires competence in problem-solving skills.

8. Course Objectives: The aims of this course are to help you develop an understanding of
major concepts that underlie the use of statistics in psychological research, and to help you learn
how to choose and carry out statistical procedures that are appropriate for different research
purposes. The specific topics covered in this course include data description, statistical inference,
hypothesis testing, analysis of association and variance, an introduction to regression analysis,
and a basic understanding of computer-based statistical software

 To understand the nature of data and role of statistical analysis in research.

 To describe the structure and characteristics of statistical data;
 To calculate and interpret measures of central tendency and variability in statistical data;
 To assess the strength of association between sociological variables;
 To determine whether observed statistical patterns and associations are generalizable to
 the larger social world;
 To achieve a basic understanding of statistical and database computer software;
 To identify and carryout basic statistical analyses used in psychological inquiry;
  To become a critical consumer who can assess the validity of the data, graphs, charts, and
 Statistics you encounter in academic books, journal articles, newspapers, television, and
other media sources.

9. Detailed Course Contents:

Unit I: Nature of Data & Statistics:

 Data and the importance of understanding the nature of data; Basic premise of statistics as a
science; Statistics & Prediction; Evolution of statistical techniques; Descriptive and
Inferential Statistics; Internet-age Big Data handling and Types of statistics

Unit II: Measurement:

 Nominal level; ordinal level; interval level; ratio level; reducing from interval to ordinal and
nominal level; categorical and measured variables; continuous and discrete scales of
measurement; data transformation.
 SPSS: Orientation to SPSS: Data view and Variable view.

Unit III: Descriptive statistics

 Central tendency: mean; median; mode. Dispersion: range; semi-interquartile range; mean
deviation; standard deviation and variance. Population parameters and sample statistics.
Distributions; percentiles; and quads.
 Graphical representation: histogram; bar chart; and pie chart.
 Exploratory data analysis: Box plots. The normal distribution curve; standard (z-) scores; skewed
distributions and testing for normality using SPSS
 Note: Descriptive statistics and graphical representation related to descriptive statistics will run
parallel by using SPSS

Unit IV: An introduction to Hypothesis testing:

 Probability, various probability distributions. Significance: levels of significance at the 5% level,

the normal probability distributions, type I and type I1 errors.
 SPSS: Data entry, data coding, data cleaning, recoding into different variables and exercise on
data entry.

Unit V: Tests at nominal level

 Binomial test. Chi-square test of good of fit and association; Assumptions and limitations of chi-
square test

Unit VI Tests of differences (two groups/ pre & post differences)

 Assumptions parametric tests; “t” test for related data (dependent/paired t test); t test for
unrelated data. (Independent sample t) its assumptions and limitations.
 Substitute non-parametric test for testing the differences: Wilcoxon signed ranks and Mann-
Whitney U. Its assumptions and applications Interpreting and reporting the test of differences.
Unit VII Tests of differences (more than two groups)

 One-way ANOVA: Assumptions of One Way ANOVA, between and within group variance,
Homogeneity of variances, Interpreting and reporting One way ANOVA using SPSS output.
Limitation of F (ANOVA),
 Interpreting and reporting Post hoc test (identifying which groups are significantly different) in
SPSS output.
 Substitute non-parametric test for one way ANOVA: The Kruskal–Wallis test, its assumptions
and application.

Unit VIII: Correlation and Regression:

 Meaning of correlations, Covariance

 Pearson product movement Correlation and Spearman rank correlation, Kendall tau correlation
 Partial Correlation
 Bi-serial correlation and Point-serial Correlation.
 Interpreting and reporting SPSS output for correlations.
 Meaning of Regression: Simple linear Regression and Multiple linear Regressions

10. Methods of Teaching: Classroom teaching, Classroom exercise, Using Software like SPSS
and R for data analysis, MS Excel and Classroom discussion and Use of video Links/ online
Resources:

11. Method of Assessment and Weightage:

Assignment: Data Entry in SPSS and Exploring descriptive statistics 50% Weightage
Exam 50 % Weightage

12. Recommended course texts for Quantitative Data Analysis:

Field, Andy (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. 4th edition. SAGE:
London (selection, about 500p).

Salkind, N.J. (2008). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics (3 rd edition).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

David C. Howell (2007) Statistical Methods for Psychology. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Das D. & Das A . (1998) Statistics in Biology & Psychology. 3rd Edition. Academic
Publishers.
Garrett. H. E. (1981) Statistics in Education And Psychology. 6th Edition (10th Indian Reprint).
David McKay Company Inc. NY

Siegel. S. (1956) Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. McGraw Hill Book
Company Inc.

13.Additional Readings

Alan Agresti and Christine Franklin (2008). Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from
Data (Second Ed.). Pearson.

Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay (2009). Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences (Fourth Ed.).
Pearson

Anastasi, A. and Urbina S. (1997) Psychological Testing. 7th Edition. Pearson Education

Aneshensel, Carol (2013). Theory-based data analysis for the social sciences. 2 edition. SAGE:
nd

London (selection, about 300p)

Champion, D.T. (1981) Basic Statistics for Social Sciences. New Delhi: Viva Books.

Bryman, A. and Cramer, D. (2008) Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS Release 14, 15 and 16:
A Guide for Social Scientists. London: Routledge.

Diamond, I. and Jeffries, J. (2000) Beginning Statistics: An Introduction for Social Scientists.
London: Sage.

Sabine Landau and Brian S. Everitt (2004) A handbook of statistical analyses using
SPSS.Chapman & Hall/CRC Press LLC

Coolidge, Frederick L. (2006). Statistics: A Gentle Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Levin, Jack, and James Alan Fox. (2006). Elementary Statistics in Social Research. Boston:
Allyn & Bacon

Law, John. (2004) After Method: Mess in Social Science Research. New York: Routledge.

Best, J. (2004). More damned lies and statistics: How numbers confuse public issues. Berkeley.

Foster, J., Barkus, E., and Yavorsky, C. (2006). Understanding and using advanced statistics.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Grbich, C. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: An introduction. London, England: Sage.

Jaccard, J. and Becker, M.A. (2010). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Belmont,
CA; Wadsworth.