Making Sense of Statistics in Special Needs Research

Probability & Statistics for the Average Person

• What is "statistics" anyway?
  www.anu.edu.au/nceph/surfstat/surfstat-home/intro1.html
• What is "probability" anyway?
  www.anu.edu.au/nceph/surfstat/surfstat-home/3-1-1.html
• Why do you need to use statistics?
  www.graphpad.com/articles/interpret/principles/stat_principles.htm
• Want an in-depth intro to probability? Here's the full-text of the book Introduction to Probability.
  http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/probability_book/amsbook.mac.pdf

Statistical Inference Defined

• From the Australian National University.
  www.anu.edu.au/nceph/surfstat/surfstat-home/4-1-1.html
• From the Research Knowledge Database, Cornell.
  www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statinf.htm
• Overview of descriptive and inferential methods.
  From Arizona State University.
  http://glass.ed.asu.edu/stats/lesson0/
• So how come a survey of 1,600 people can tell me what 250 million are thinking?
  www.robertniles.com/stats/sample.shtml

Introduction to "Stats" in Plain Language

• Little Handbook of Statistical Practice.
  A step-by step tutorial from Tufts.
  www.tufts.edu/%7Egdallal/LHSP.HTM
• Those Scary Statistics.
  From Craig Hospital in Colorado.
  www.craighospital.org/SCI/METS/stats.asp
• Statistics Every Writer Should Know.
  From journalist Robert Niles.
  www.robertniles.com/stats/
• How to read a paper: Statistics for the non-statistician.
  I: Different types of data need different statistical tests.
  From the British Medical Journal.
  http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7104/364
• How to read a paper: Statistics for the non-statistician.
  II: "Significant" relations and their pitfalls.
  From the British Medical Journal.
  http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7105/422
• Pitfalls of Data Analysis (or How to Avoid Lies and Damned Lies).
  From material covered in a workshop at the Third International Applied Statistics in Industry Conference in Dallas, TX, June 5-7, 1995.
  http://my.execpc.com/~helberg/pitfalls/

Are You a Visual Learner?

• Against All Odds: Inside Statistics.
  www.learner.org/resources/series65.html?pop=yes&vodid=44107&pid=140#
  This links to a video series from the Annenberg/CPB projects consisting of 26 half-hour video programs, emphasizing how to "do" statistics.
• Lesson on the Introduction to Probability.
  From Math Goodies.
  www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/vol6/intro_probability.html
• Interactive statistics and probability learning tools.
  From Duke Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences.
  www.stat.duke.edu/sites/java.html
• Online math manipulatives for statistics and probabilities.
  From Utah State University.
  http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/topic_t_5.html
• BERRIES Statistics page.
  http://huizen.dds.nl/~berrie/
• Virtual Laboratories in Probability and Statistics.
  From University of Alabama, Huntsville.
  www.math.uah.edu/stat/
• Demonstration of group differences.
  From Rice University.
  www.ruf.rice.edu/~lane/stat_sim/gdexpl.html

Glossaries

Baffled by a word or a concept that seems like statistics or probability? Look in these glossaries. You are likely to find the definition inside one of 'em.

• From Colorado State University.
  http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/stats/
• From the University of Glasgow.
  www.stats.gla.ac.uk/steps/glossary/index.html
• From StatSoft.
  www.statsoftinc.com/textbook/glosfra.html
• From the Australian National University.
  www.anu.edu.au/nceph/surfstat/surfstat-home/glossary/glossary.html
• From Berkeley.
  www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/SticiGui/Text/gloss.htm
• From University of Vermont.
  http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/fundamentals/Websites/Archives.html
• From STatistical Education through Problem Solving (STEPS)
  http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/steps/glossary/index.html

Below are links to resources that will help you understand more about the statistical tests and terms mentioned in research documents. These resources run the gamut of complexity--you'll find everything from an entire online introductory statistics course to glossaries defining individual statistical terms. Hopefully, these resources will be helpful in illuminating your reading of research. You can use this page in combination with the other offerings in our ever-growing collection of pages designed to make sense of research. At the moment, we offer these basic introductions: