Andy Field (born 21 June 1973) is an English academic currently serving as Professor of Quantitative Methods at the University of Sussex. Field is noted as the author of several textbooks about

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

, which typically deal with software application of statistical theory in SPSS and the R programming language. His books are characterised by an irreverent, sometimes outrageous, writing style that is atypical of academic texts. His student-friendly approach to writing led to The Times Higher Education Supplement dubbing him 'the Harry Potter of the social sciences'.

Personal life

In his books, Field typically cites the music that he listened to while writing. The bands cited are predominantly in the genres of Rock music, Progressive rock, and

Heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

. He lists his musical heroes as Dave Murray of Iron Maiden and Mikael Åkerfeldt and Martin Axenrot of

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

. From 1989 until 1996 Field played guitar and sang in the heavy metal band ''Scansion'' and in a 2014 article he discusses playing the drums in a band called Fracture Pattern. His books make frequent references to his pets. He is married with two sons, and lives in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Professional life

Field obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology in 1994 from City University London and a Doctorate of Philosophy (DPhil) from University of Sussex in 1997. Field has received different honours from the

British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. History It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the organ ...

: their ''Teaching Award'' in 2005 which recognises unusually significant contributions to education and training in psychology within the UK. And in 2007 the ''Book Award'' for the second edition of his book ''Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics: and Sex and Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll''. In 2010 he received a National Teaching Fellowship for individual excellence in teaching. He became Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2009 and Fellow of the

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The Academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of matters, a ...

in 2010. His current field of research lies in anxiety, child development and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

attainment. In 2016 Field published ''An Adventure In Statistics: The Reality Enigma'', which is described as a textbook embedded within a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. The book also contains graphic novel elements. The book was a finalist for The Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers Award for Innovation in Publishing, the British Book Design and Production Awards (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education category) and the British Psychological Society book award.

Books

*''Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics: and Sex and Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll''. (5th edition) Sage Publications, 2017. *An Adventure in Statistics: The Reality Enigma. Sage Publications, 2016. * ''Discovering Statistics Using R: and Sex and Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll''. Sage Publications, 2012. * ''How to Design and Report Experiments''. (1st edition) Sage Publications, 2003. *''Clinical Psychology''. Learning Matters, 2003.

References

External links

Discovering Statistics
– Private Homepage (Statistics resources)

– Private Homepage (Statistics resources)
Professor Andy Field
– Website at University of Sussex
Andy Field
– YouTube Channel
Google scholar page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Andy 1973 births Living people British psychologists Academics of the University of Sussex Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of the University of Sussex Place of birth missing (living people)