Understanding Statistics for the Social Sciences with IBM SPSS

Robert Ho

• Publisher: Chapman and Hall/CRC
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351725224
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Mathematics
• Subtopic: Probability & Statistics
• Index: Mathematics

Modern statistical software provides the ability to compute statistics in a timely, orderly fashion. This introductory statistics textbook presents clear explanations of basic statistical concepts and introduces students to the IBM SPSS program to demonstrate how to conduct statistical analyses via the popular point-and-click and the "syntax file" methods. The focal point is to show students how easy it is to analyse data using SPSS once they have learned the basics.

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• Provides clear explanation of basic statistical concepts that provides the foundation for the beginner students' statistical journey.

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• Introduces the SPSS software program.

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• Gives clear explanation of the purpose of specific statistical procedures (e.g., frequency distributions, measures of central tendencies, measures of variability, etc.).

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• Avoids the conventional cookbook approach that contributes very little to students' understanding of the rationale of how the correct results were obtained.

The advantage of learning the IBM SPSS software package at the introductory class level is that most social sciences students will employ this program in their later years of study. This is because SPSS is one of the most popular of the many statistical packages currently available. Learning how to use this program at the very start not only familiarizes students with the utility of this program but also provides them with the experience to employ the program to conduct more complex analyses in their later years.

1

Introduction to the Scientific Methodology of Research

1.1Introduction

Some of the common questions many students ask when they begin their research in psychology are, ‘Why do we need to do research? After all, what has the conduct of research got to do with the study of human behavior? Can’t we simply study human behavior without recourse to understanding the techniques of scientific investigation, without recourse to hypothesis testing’, and of course, the mother of all questions, ‘without recourse to statistical analysis?’ Fair questions! The simple answer is that without objective, empirical, scientific-based verification of social phenomena, science as we know it will simply cease to exist. And without scientific-based empirical research, progress in knowledge, technology, and innovations will stagnate and possibly come to a screeching halt. At the heart of human existence, evolution, growth, and progress are our needs and desire to learn new things, to understand existing phenomena, to be able to explain scientifically why A causes B, and for many social scientists, to be able to understand ‘why people behave the way they do’. To be able to do all these things, we need to be well versed in the scientific methodology of research.

1.2The Scientific Approach versus the Layperson’s Approach to Knowledge

A scientific approach to knowledge is different from a layperson’s approach to knowledge. A layperson’s approach is typically subjective and based on intuition and everyday observations, whereas a scientific approach to knowledge is based on systematic observation and direct experimentation. For example, a friend of yours tells you that based on his everyday observations he has concluded that men are smarter than women. Surely, as a budding scientist, you have a lot of questions to ask your friend. How many men and women has he met? Are these men and women representative of their respective populations? And how did he decide how smart they were? It will not be enough for your friend to say to you that he had met lots of men and women and that he is very good at telling how smart people are. You need proof; show me the evidence! The scientific approach to knowledge does not rely on speculation, guesswork, or armchair philosophizing in drawing conclusions about phenomena. It relies on scientific methodology that in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Author
• 1. Introduction to the Scientific Methodology of Research
• 2. Introduction to SPSS
• Section I: Descriptive Statistics
• Section II: Inferential Statistics
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index