Encyclopedia of Measurement & Statistics

In fields as varying as education, politics and health care, assessment and the use of measurement and statistics have become an integral part of almost every activity undertaken. These activities require the organization of ideas, the generation of hypotheses, the collection of data and the interpretation, illustration and analysis of data. No matter where we look, this critical analysis is more important than ever in an age where information - and lots of it - is readily available. The average consumer must know what a 'median' is or what the connotations of the term 'significant' are when intelligently reading "The New York Times", "Science News" or a tabloid. Likewise, students, practitioners and researchers must grapple with sophisticated terms and techniques when conducting research, writing proposals and analyzing data. The terms themselves have proven to be anxiety-provoking. "The Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics", in two volumes, presents state-of-the-art information and ready-to-use facts from the fields of measurement and statistics in a non-intimidating and accessible style. The encyclopedia is specifically written to appeal to undergraduate students as well as practitioners, researchers and consumers of information. Whilst there are reference works covering statistics and assessment in depth, none provide as comprehensive a resource in as focused and approachable a manner as this encyclopedia. The entries cover every major facet of these two different, but highly integrated disciplines, from mean, mode and median, to reliability, validity, significance, correlation and much more, all without overwhelming the informed reader.