Understanding Social Science Statistics: A Spreadsheet Approach

This book is designed for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, as well as for active and productive researchers who want to enhance their grasp of standard social science statistics. Topics covered include hypothesis testing, type I and II errors, simple and multiple correlation and regression, categorical variables coding, assessment of both statistical significance and the magnitude of effects, standard experimental designs, analysis of covariance, and power analysis. Both between- and within-subjects designs and their associated post-hoc tests are presented.

The core of Understanding Social Science Statistics is a series of exercises performed on a microcomputer using a spreadsheet program (like LOTUS 1-2-3) which is included with the book. The program allows for quick, hands-on analysis of realistic data using conceptually meaningful computations. As readers complete the exercises in this book they accumulate a set of spreadsheet templates that can be used with any appropriate data, creating, in effect, their own personal statistical package. Excellent for use in the classroom or as a self-study guide, this text is intended to entice the sort of student who is otherwise intimidated by statistics. The level of presentation is simple and straightforward; conceptual underpinnings and practical applications are stressed, whereas algebraic derivations and complex formulaic manipulations are avoided; and new material and ideas are presented in the context of concrete, running examples.

This volume emphasizes basic statistical literacy. The level of presentation is straightforward and intended to entice the sort of student who otherwise feels intimidated by statistics. A series of integrated exercises (using a standard spreadsheet program) make it especially useful as a self-study guide for those who want to improve their statistical understanding while working at their own pace.

Note: 5 1/4" disk accompanying this volume is designed and distributed for, and may only be used on, IBM PCs, XTs, ATs, and PS/2s or compatibles running MS DOS 2.0 or above.