Statistics Without Data

Reviews the book, An Introduction to Statistical Methods in the Behavioral Sciences by Freeman F. Elzey (1976). Many will reject this book outright upon reading in the preface that "All data presented in this book are fictitious." It is a sad commentary on our field that such a book could be published because, presumably, many will not be bothered by that statement. The reality is that the whole discussion of hypothesis testing is a caricature of actual scientific practice. If one were to take this book seriously (and this applies to several other textbooks), one would not need to study statistical methods at all. In other words, real data are not necessary for this book because no questions or thoughts about data are ever raised or mentioned. Most of our undergraduates do not go on to graduate school. The sad thing is that the type of first course the present book was written for does not give a liberal arts education in the statistics of real-life necessary for an educated person in a democracy. A list of 13 incorrect and misleading statements is available from this reviewer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)