Empirical Direction in Design and Analysis

Book excerpt: The goal of Norman H. Anderson's new book is to help students develop skills of scientific inference. To accomplish this he organized the book around the "Experimental Pyramid"--six levels that represent a hierarchy of considerations in empirical investigation--conceptual framework, phenomena, behavior, measurement, design, and statistical inference. To facilitate conceptual and empirical understanding, Anderson de-emphasizes computational formulas and null hypothesis testing. Other features include: *emphasis on visual inspection as a basic skill in experimental analysis to help students develop an intuitive appreciation of data patterns; *exercises that emphasize development of conceptual and empirical application of methods of design and analysis and de-emphasize formulas and calculations; and *heavier emphasis on confidence intervals than significance tests. The book is intended for use in graduate-level experimental design/research methods or statistics courses in psychology, education, and other applied social sciences, as well as a professional resource for active researchers. The first 12 chapters present the core concepts graduate students must understand. The next nine chapters serve as a reference handbook by focusing on specialized topics with a minimum of technicalities.