Chapter IV: Research Tools: Statistical Methods

THAT THE RATE of growth of statistical methodology is a positively accel erated phenomenon would seem to be true when one compares the amount of published material during the last three years to the quantity appearing during each of the several preceding three-year intervals. More than 1200 references were located, and about 450 have been included, whereas 216 references were noted in the corresponding chapter of the December 1957 REVIEW by Michael, Kaiser, and Clark. Their pattern of organization and coverage is followed here. Statistical methods especially applicable to test construction, analysis, and evalua tion are deferred for a future issue on educational and psychological testing. The period covered is essentially that between July 1957 and July 1960. The chapter is organized as follows: after a review of recent books, attention is devoted to (a) general developments in statistical theory with particular stress on contributions to statistical inferences involving para metric procedures; (b) recent advances in the theory and application of chi-square and contingency tables; (c) published research concerning the binomial, Poisson, and multinomial distributions; (d) innovations and modifications in nonparametric theory and techniques; (e) developments in regression and correlation theory, including curve fitting; and (f) methodological advances in factor analysis. The reader is urged to consult other chapters—especially the one on experimental design—to complete his coverage of other statistical areas such as analysis of variance and data-processing techniques. The excellent critiques of research in statistical methodology by Harman (1958), Grant