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Essential Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
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Essential Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences

Third Edition


August 2026 | 720 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Essential Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences delivers clear, concise, and relevant statistics instruction to students so they can better understand the world around them. Award-winning teacher and author Gregory J. Privitera relates statistics to the behavioral sciences using current, practical research examples and provides robust pedagogy throughout, allowing students to continually check their comprehension and hone their skills. Carefully developed features and exercises seamlessly integrate IBM® SPSS® support. Extensive supporting features and a conversational tone throughout the book make it approachable while helping students better understand the reasoning and context for statistics. The Third Edition highlights the latest thinking on research transparency so students can use statistics properly and recognize their misuse.

Sage Vantage Learning Platform
This text is offered in Sage Vantage, an intuitive learning platform that integrates quality Sage textbook content with assignable multimedia activities and auto-graded assessments to drive student engagement and ensure accountability. Unparalleled in its ease of use and built for dynamic teaching and learning, Vantage offers customizable LMS integration and best-in-class support.

Highlights
  • SPSS in Focus Screencasts walk students through using SPSS for each statistical technique.
  • NEW! An AI Literacy module prepares students to engage confidently with today’s AI tools through an interactive, outcomes-focused experience—with minimal instructor lift and no course redesign required. Available exclusively in Sage Vantage and written by professors who teach and publish about AI, the AI Information Literacy, Academic Integrity, and Responsible AI Use integrates video, data driven examples, applied activities, Knowledge Checks, and built-in assessments that help instructors track student understanding. Focused on strengthening critical thinking, the module teaches students how to evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and bias while developing responsible prompting strategies that support academic success without compromising students' intellectual growth.
  • NEW! A suite of assessment tools that are auto-graded and easy to assign:
    • Knowledge Checks occur at the end of each major section in the eBook. These low-stakes questions help students make sure they understand the material before moving on.
    • Practice Problems at the end of the chapter are students' opportunity to check their own learning. These formative problem sets, based on questions from the end-of-chapter assessments, give students an opportunity to try out their skills with a mix of multiple choice and numeric entry responses. The “Try Another Version” feature allows students to make another attempt with a similar question aligned to the same learning objective.
    • The Chapter Quiz tests the major concepts in the chapter with a variety of question types, including multi-part word problems similar to ones they might encounter on an exam. Each part builds on the previous one to reinforce critical thinking and procedural understanding—for example, defining the question, identifying variables, and solving equations in sequence. Students can receive immediate feedback, and their results sync automatically to the Vantage gradebook and your LMS, with no extra grading required.
  • NEW! Available in Practice Problems, the Try Another Version feature supports skill-building through versioned practice. Students can attempt similar questions with new variables, aligned to the same learning objective, Bloom’s level, and level of rigor—ideal for targeted repetition and mastery.
  • NEW! Numeric input lets students enter exact numerical answers in all assessment types—ideal for statistics problems that require precise values and calculations.
  • NEW! All tables and figures in both the assessments and the eBook are now downloadable.

 
About the Author
 
Acknowledgments
 
Preface to the Instructor
 
To the Student—How to Use SPSS With This Book
 
Part I: Introduction and Descriptive Statistics
 
1: Introduction to Statistics
 
2: Summarizing Data: Frequency Distributions in Tables and Graphs
 
3: Summarizing Data: Central Tendency
 
4: Summarizing Data: Variability
 
Part II: Probability and the Foundations of Inferential Statistics
 
5: Probability, Normal Distributions, and z Scores
 
6: Characteristics of the Sample Mean
 
7: Hypothesis Testing: Significance, Effect Size, Estimation, and Power
 
Part III: Making Inferences About One or Two Means
 
8: Testing Means: One-Sample t Test With Confidence Intervals
 
9: Testing Means: Two-Independent-Sample t Test With Confidence Intervals
 
10: Testing Means: Related-Samples t Test With Confidence Intervals
 
Part IV: Making Inferences About The Variability of Two or More Means
 
11: One-Way Analysis of Variance: Between-Subjects and Within-Subjects (Repeated-Measures) Designs
 
12: Two-Way Analysis of Variance: Between-Subjects Factorial Design
 
Part V: Making Inferences About Patterns, Prediction, and Nonparametric Tests
 
13: Correlation and Linear Regression
 
14: Chi-Square Tests: Goodness of Fit and the Test for Independence
 
Appendix A. An Overview of Core Statistical Concepts Taught In This Book
 
Appendix B: Basic Math Review and Summation Notation
 
Appendix C: SPSS General Instructions Guide
 
Appendix D. Statistical Tables
 
Appendix E: Solutions for Even-Numbered Problems
 
Glossary
 
References
 
Index
Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • The new edition is available in Sage Vantage, an intuitive learning platform that integrates quality Sage textbook content with assignable multimedia activities and auto-graded assessments to drive student engagement and ensure accountability. Unparalleled in its ease of use and built for dynamic teaching and learning, Vantage offers customizable LMS integration and best-in-class support.
    • NEW! An AI Literacy module prepares students to engage confidently with today’s AI tools through an interactive, outcomes-focused experience—with minimal instructor lift and no course redesign required. Available exclusively in Sage Vantage and written by professors who teach and publish about AI, the AI Information Literacy, Academic Integrity, and Responsible AI Use module integrates video, data driven examples, applied activities, Knowledge Checks, and built-in assessments that help instructors track student understanding. Focused on strengthening critical thinking, the module teaches students how to evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and bias while developing responsible prompting strategies that support academic success without compromising students' intellectual growth.
    • Each chapter in Sage Vantage includes a suite of assessment tools that are auto-graded and easy to assign:
      • Knowledge Checks occur at the end of each major section in the eBook. These low-stakes questions help students make sure they understand the material before moving on.
      • Practice Problems at the end of the chapter are students' opportunity to check their own learning. These formative problem sets, based on questions from the end-of-chapter assessments, give students an opportunity to try out their skills with a mix of multiple choice and numeric entry responses. The "Try Another Version" feature allows students to make another attempt with a similar question aligned to the same learning objective.
      • The Chapter Quiz tests the major concepts in the chapter with a variety of question types, including multi-part word problems similar to ones they might encounter on an exam. Each part builds on the previous one to reinforce critical thinking and procedural understanding—for example, defining the question, identifying variables, and solving equations in sequence. Students can receive immediate feedback, and their results sync automatically to the Vantage gradebook and your LMS, with no extra grading required.
    • Assign assessments your way. Vantage makes it easy to set up assignments and choose the right mix of formative and summative assessments for your course. You decide whether questions are graded based on performance or completion and whether students receive one or more attempts.
  • A stronger focus on the need for multiple points of evidence in knowledge creation provides more connections from hypothesis testing to effect size to confidence intervals.
  • A greater focus on research transparency, including new assumptions testing discussions and ensuring that all datasets meet the assumptions for their required tests ensure that the instruction and the test itself meet or exceeds the standards for rigorous research in the behavioral sciences.
  • SPSS in Focus sections now have consistent organizational headings so students can better follow each step of the computation process.
  • Updates for the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020) ensure students receive the latest advice on statistics and that the book itself matches the latest citation standards.
  • All practice exercises have been fully revised and place statistical analysis in the context of current scholarship.
  • Additional Making Sense sections highlight the most difficult content to give students more explanation.
KEY FEATURES:
  • A conversational writing style empowers students to view statistics as something they are capable of understanding and using.
  • Clear learning objectives at the start of each chapter get students thinking about the material they will be learning. End-of-chapter summaries reiterate these learning objectives and summarize key chapter content related to each objective.
  • All "by hand" calculations are also shown in SPSS to show how values in the formulas are computed and displayed.
  • Making Sense sections break down the statistical concepts students typically find most challenging, review important material, and help students make sense of it.
  • SPSS in Focus sections provide step-by-step, classroom-tested instruction using practical research examples of how chapter concepts can be applied using SPSS.
  • APA in Focus sections explain how to summarize statistical results for each inferential statistic taught and how to read and report statistical results in research journals that follow APA style.
  • Research in Focus sections provide context by reviewing pertinent, current research that clarifies or illustrates important statistical concepts discussed in the chapter.
  • Updated research examples, often based on data from published research, allow students to see the types of questions that behavioral researchers ask while learning about the statistics researchers use to answer them.
  • Learning Checks and Marginal Notes support a deeper understanding of the material.
  • Robust pedagogy, including step-by-step example problems, checkpoints for comprehension, key terms, a comprehensive suite of end-of-chapter problems, and a mathematics primer in an appendix, help students master key concepts and skills.
  • Chapter-ending review problems, categorized as Factual Problems, Concept and Application Problems, and Problems in Research, allow instructors to easily identify and test different types of knowledge.