SPSS 12.0 Statistical Procedures Companion - Softcover

Norusis, Marija J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131096729 ISBN 13: 9780131096721

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2003

Synopsis

KEY BENEFIT: A procedural software manual for Advanced Statistics courses. KEY TOPICS: Students new to statistical analysis and SPSS as well as seasoned users will find this manual incredibly valuable, as it provides tips, warnings, and examples that aid data analyzation. While the underlying statistical concepts are reviewed, the emphasis is on practical matters: understanding the analyses that can be performed using SPSS. It offers suggestions and concentrates on topics that arise when analyzing real data for presentations, reports, and dissertations. The accompanying CD-ROM contains many of the datasets used in the book.

About this title

From the Back Cover

SPSS® 12.0 Statistical Procedures Companion

Whether you are just getting started with statistics or moving into more advanced analyses, this book will help you get the most out of your time and data and exploit the power of the SPSS system. Here's what you'll find:

• An introduction to the SPSS system, with an emphasis on how to prepare data for analysis
• Practical discussions of the statistical background for each of the statistical procedures
• Detailed examples from diverse areas, including psychology, sociology, education, archaeology, medicine, library science, nursing, and journalism
• Numerous tips and warnings to help you work efficiently and avoid common pitfalls
• A CD containing many of the data sets used in the book

Coverage of statistics starts with the basics and extends to the most powerful modeling procedures, showing you how to:

• Analyze data using simple statistical procedures (descriptive statistics, comparisons of means, correlation, bivariate regression, and nonparametric tests)
• Employ more complex statistical procedures (multiple regression, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, logistic regression, cluster analysis, and reliability)
• Build models with the general linear model (univariate, multivariate, and repeated measures)
• Analyze correlated observations with linear mixed models

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You have all the essential components: software with enough options to make a whirling dervish take pause; a data set of questionable virtue cast in a starring role; and a plot waiting to unfold. Directing this production to a satisfying conclusion isn't easy. The goal of this book is to point you in the right direction.

Whether you're new to statistical analysis and SPSS or are a well-seasoned user who remembers how awesome the powers of SPSS-X were in 1983, this book contains tips, warnings, and examples to help you better analyze your data. Although the underlying statistical concepts are reviewed, the emphasis is on practical matters: understanding the analyses that you can perform using SPSS. The book is a companion, not a taskmaster. You won't find step-by-step instructions for solving your problems. That's because every statistical problem is unique. Its solution depends on knowing the shortcomings and strengths of the available data and on understanding enough about the subject matter to pursue intelligent, sensible analyses. That's not always an easy task, even for a statistician. (I still recall the investigator who asked for help in analyzing a data set that contained measurements taken from 20 dogs. When I asked why several dogs weighed so much more than the others, he sheepishly admitted that some of the dogs were actually pigs. That explained the outliers!)

Many readers of the SPSS Guide to Data Analysis, an introductory book covering statistical concepts and the fundamentals of data analysis, asked for a book that continues where the Guide to Data Analysis ends. This book is intended as that continuation, although the target audience is somewhat different. The audience for the SPSS 12.0 Statistical Procedures Companion is no longer the beginning student but is instead the data analyst, either an advanced student or a professional. The Companion offers practical suggestions and emphasizes topics that arise when analyzing real data for presentations, reports, and dissertations, instead of the pristine data of homework assignments.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0131096729
• ISBN 13: 9780131096721
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 601