NICHCY Research

Launched March 4, 2004
Updated December 5, 2007
Approx. 5 pages when printed

When you read a research article, you're likely to run across descriptions of how the researchers analyzed the data they collected. There may be many terms about their statistical methods that leave you wondering, huh? In order to understand what the authors are trying to say, you need to understand their lingo. This Connections page can help you do just that.

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:

Research 101
(What makes for good research?)

Research 102: Adding Up the Evidence
(How do you combine the findings of multiple research studies?)

Making Sense of Statistics in Research (you're here!)
(Don't let stats throw you.)

Weighing Info for Its Worth
(Is this research well done?)

Special Education Research: Where to Start?
(How to begin finding and applying research.)

What Works: Can We Say?
(Where can I find information on evidence-based practices?)

Research-Based Resources on Specific Disabilities
(A starting place for research-based information on disabilities.)

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

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/

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

This information is copyright free.
Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY).

NICHCY Connections pages are published in response to questions from individuals and organizations that contact us. We encourage you to share your ideas and feedback with us!

Project Director: Suzanne Ripley
Editor: Lisa Küpper, Director of Publications, NICHCY
Author: Dr. Barbara Smith
Updates: Kyrie Dragoo

NICHCY thanks our Project Officer, Dr. Judy Shanley, at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education.

Publication of this Web resource page is made possible through Cooperative Agreement #H326N030003 between the Academy for Educational Development and the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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