An Introduction to Data Analysis

Covering the general process of data analysis to finding, collecting, organizing, and presenting data, this book offers a complete introduction to the fundamentals of data analysis.

Using real-world case studies as illustrations, it helps readers understand theories behind and develop techniques for conducting quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods data analysis. With an easy-to-follow organization and clear, jargon-free language, it helps readers not only become proficient data analysts, but also develop the critical thinking skills necessary to assess analyses presented by others in both academic research and the popular media.

It includes advice on:

- Data analysis frameworks

- Validity and credibility of data

- Sampling techniques  

- Data management

- The big data phenomenon  

- Data visualisation

- Effective data communication

Whether you are new to data analysis or looking for a quick-reference guide to key principles of the process, this book will help you uncover nuances, complexities, patterns, and relationships among all types of data.

Tiffany Bergin is Senior Research Analyst at the New York City Criminal Justice Agency. Previously she was Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Kent State University and Sutasoma Trust Research Fellow and Director of Studies in Politics, Psychology, and Sociology at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. She is the author of The Evidence Enigma (Ashgate, 2013) and Regulating Alcohol around the World: Policy Cocktails (Ashgate, 2013). With Emanuela Orlando, she is the editor of Forging a Socio-Legal Approach to Environmental Harms: Global Perspectives (Routledge, 2017). She received her PhD and MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, and her AB summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.