Essential Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
Video and Multimedia
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Video Clips
Probability
This video discusses key points of probability (9:44).
Probability Distributions
This video includes discussion of key points of probability distributions (9:33).
What is a Standard Normal Distribution?
This video provides a visual and audio description of the normal curve. This is discussed in simplified terms with drawings (4:33).
Find the z Score
Describes z scores and how to find the z score of a data point (2:06).
An Introduction to the Normal Distribution
This video describes the normal distribution and important key points (5:26).
Audio Clips
The Stupidest Statistics in the Modern Era
NPR discusses meaningless statistics in sports (3:58).
Why People Probably Don’t Understand Probability
Professor Andrew Gelman discusses how people misunderstand probability when it comes to the coin toss (4:17).
Put Away the Bell Curve: Most of Us Aren’t “Average”
New research suggests that rather than describing how humans perform, the bell curve may actually be constraining how people perform (4:33).
A Scientific Approach to Helping the Homeless
The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell discusses how the homeless problem could be solved if assistance was provided to a small number of permanently homeless people (7:21).
Carl Friedrich Gauss
BBC podcast that gives a historical overview of the Gaussian, or bell-shaped, distribution and how it is used today (13:49).
Web Resources
Rules of Probability
This article describes the rules of probability, example problems with answers and explanations, and probability calculator.
Descriptive Statistics and Psychological Testing
This website illustrates the normal curve and discusses the meaning behind it. Also discusses scores (t scores, z scores, scaled scores) and percentiles.
z Score Calculator
This article and calculator describe how to convert a z score to a raw score.
Raw Score Calculator
This article and calculator describe how to convert a raw score to a z score.