My Magical Beloved Statistics Primer

My Magical Beloved Statistics Primer is a playful and illustrated introduction to statistics – designed for students of psychology and the social sciences, especially those struggling with math anxiety or frustrated by traditional statistics lectures.
Many students “survive” their stats course but come away believing that quantitative research just isn’t for them. This book is here to change that.

Through storytelling, expressive data point characters, visual metaphors, and interactive mini-games, the book introduces the foundations of statistical thinking in an intuitive and engaging way.
Each chapter is accompanied by a custom-designed WebGL mini-game that allows readers to explore central concepts through hands-on experimentation.
QR codes in the book provide direct access to these digital learning tools. Additionally, commented R scripts are available for every worked example in the book, enabling readers to deepen their understanding through reproducible computation.

This creates a unique blend of vivid explanation, interactive reinforcement, and practical application.

Topics include:

• scales of measurement
• descriptive statistics
• correlation coefficients (Pearson, Spearman, Phi)
• inferential tests for independent and dependent groups (t-tests, Mann-Whitney)
• chi-square tests
• one-way, factorial, and mixed-design ANOVAs
• the logic of hypothesis testing, power analyses, and alpha/beta errors.

Grounded in hands-on teaching experience and refined through extensive testing with students, this book invites readers into a world where statistics becomes accessible, meaningful – and maybe even lovable.

The book will be published in late 2026 by Springer – in both German and English.
The content on this page grows alongside the project: Soon you’ll find links to the WebGL games, artwork from the book, and behind-the-scenes insights into its development.