Elements of Statistics for the Life and Social Sciences

This book is directed to advanced students who are encountering statistics without a background in either mathematics or the logic of science. The ultimate goal is to present the basic concepts and mechanics of hypothesis testing through examples from the journals. In order to avoid problems of measurements only counted data are used. The treatment opens with a summary of the logic of argument in order to establish a structure. Next, the problems of induction, the logic of induction and the logic of science are considered briefly. An overview of some concepts from probability theory and mathematical models of dynamic systems that have been useful in the generation of hypotheses follows. The book concludes with a description of the use of log-linear models of complex data structures.