Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows 95/98

Adventures in Social Research is the only book available that teaches students not only how to analyze issues in social science research using current General Social Survey data, but also how to use SPSS, the most widely used professional program. It is perfect for adding a computer skills and data analysis component to a research methods or statistics course taught in sociology, social work, criminal justice, political science, communication science, health studies, or other discipline that uses survey methods. This book builds on the national success already established by the Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 based versions of Adventures in Social Research by Babbie and Halley.

It is useful for both the more experienced students who want to learn how to use the latest version of SPSS, as well as students with no experience with computers, Windows, SPSS, statistics, or social research. In addition, this book provides step-by-step instructions and numerous demonstrations illustrated with more than 200 Windows screens so that students always know what they should be seeing on the computer. It includes exercises and review questions, and is perfect for lab or homework assignments, allowing students to test the skills they have learned using real-world data. It also enables students to analyze and write a data-based paper. As a set of optional activities, students are given their own questionnaire so that they can gather, code, enter, and analyze their own data and compare it to the GSS data already provided.

Earl Babbie was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1938, but his family chose to return to Vermont 3 months later, and he grew up there and in New Hampshire. In 1956, he set off for Harvard Yard, where he spent the next 4 years learning more than he initially planned. After 3 years with the US Marine Corps, mostly in Asia, he began graduate studies at the University of California―Berkeley. He received his PhD from Berkeley in 1969. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979, took time off from teaching and research to write full-time for 8 years, and then joined the faculty at Chapman University in Southern California in 1987. Although he is the author of several research articles and monographs, he is best known for the many textbooks he has written, which have been widely adopted in colleges throughout the United States and the world. He also has been active in the American Sociological Association for 25 years and currently serves on the ASA’s executive committee. He is also past president of the Pacific Sociological Association and California Sociological Association.

Fred Halley, Associate Professor Emeritus, SUNY-Brockport, received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and philosophy from Ashland College and his master’s and doctorate degrees from Case Western Reserve University and the University of Missouri, respectively. Since 1970, he has worked to bring both instructional and research computer applications into the undergraduate sociology curriculum. Halley has been recognized for his leadership in the instructional computing sections of the Eastern and Midwest Sociological Societies and the American Sociological Association. At Brockport, he served as a collegewide social science computing consultant and directed Brockport’s Institute for Social Science Research and the College’s Data Analysis Laboratory. Off campus, Halley directed and consulted on diverse community research projects that were used to establish urban magnet schools, evaluate a Head Start family service center, locate an expressway, and design a public transportation system for a rural county. Now residing in Rochester, New York, he plays an active role in a faith-based mentoring program for ex-offenders, and he volunteers for Micrecycle, an organization that refurbishes computers used by those on the other side of the computer divide in schools, daycares, youth centers, and other community organizations.

Jeanne Zaino, Associate Professor of Political Science, Iona College, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in survey research at the University of Connecticut―Storrs. During that time, she worked as a research assistant at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. She went on to earn a master’s degree and PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts―Amherst. She is currently chair of the Political Science Department at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, where she teaches courses in American government, institutions, research methods, social statistics, public opinion, scope, and methods. She and her husband, Jeff, are the proud parents of two sons, Maxim and Logan.