Preface Preface

This book introduces quantitative research in the scientific and health disciplines, with an emphasis on introductory statistics. Unlike many introductory statistics textbooks, this textbook gives context to the statistics by first covering the basics of the research design process; it connects the research question with the means to answer that question. The research process is broken into six steps, which provide the framework for the content.

The book is designed for teaching at first-year undergraduate level, with examples mostly drawn from science, health and engineering. Many real journal articles are used throughout the text. Almost every dataset used in this book is real and available in the SRMData R package. Software output is from jamovi, but no knowledge of jamovi is required. (jamovi is free to download and use.)

Learning Outcomes. In this book, you will learn to: develop quantitative research questions and testable hypotheses; design quantitative studies to answer simple quantitative research questions; select and produce appropriate graphical, numerical and statistical analyses; select, apply and interpret the results of the correct statistical technique to analyse data; comprehend, apply and communicate in the language of research and statistics; and demonstrate professional integrity in planning, interpreting and reporting the results of quantitative studies.

About the author. Peter K. Dunn is a Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia.

How to cite: Peter K. Dunn (2024). Scientific Research and Methodology: An introduction to quantitative research in science and health. peterkdunn.github.io/SRM-Textbook/