SPSS 12. 0 Guide to Data Analysis

The SPSS A (R)12.0 Guide to Data Analysis is a friendly introduction to both data analysis and SPSS, the world's leading desktop statistical software package. Easy-to-understand explanations and in-depth content make this guide both an excellent supplement to other statistics texts and a superb primary text for any introductory data analysis course. With the SPSS A (R)12.0 Guide to Data Analysis, you get a jump-start on describing data, testing hypotheses, and examining relationships using SPSS.

The goal of this book is to provide an unintimidating introduction to data analysis and to SPSS. This edition focuses on topics that interest today's students—in particular, the role of the Internet in society. The book can be used either as a supplementary text or as a primary text in an introductory course in data analysis. It is designed for use with SPSS 12.0, including the Student Version. The SPSS 12.0 Statistical Procedures Companion (Norusis, 2004) covers many of the more advanced statistical procedures in SPSS, which are not discussed in this book.

Data Files

Since the best way to learn about data analysis is to actually do it, this book uses real data to solve a variety of problems. Data from the General Social Survey are used to determine who uses the Internet, and for how long, each week. Data from the Impact of the Internet on Library Use study allows students to examine the role of the Internet in traditional institutions, such as libraries. Data from the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society allows students to investigate the effect of the Internet on socialization. But of course there's more to life than the Internet. Completion times from the Chicago marathon, opinions of the criminal justice system, and an ABC survey of manners are also analyzed.

The variety of data files used should make this book appealing to a broad range of students and teachers. The data files used in the chapters and in the exercises are included with this book.

Using This Book

This book is divided into four parts: "Getting Started with SPSS," "Describing Data," "Testing Hypotheses," and "Examining Relation-ships."

Each chapter presents a problem and introduces statistical techniques useful for solving it. Detailed descriptions of the SPSS procedures used are also provided. Each chapter also contains extensive exercises that use the data files described above, as well as others. Instructors can choose exercises that best suit the interests and sophistication of their students.

Solutions to even-numbered statistical concepts exercises are in Appendix F.

Send Me Comments

I am always eager to receive feedback and suggestions from readers of my books. Please send your suggestions and comments about the book (not the software) to marija@norusis.com.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank numerous users of the previous editions of the SPSS Guide to Data Analysis for their comments and suggestions. The book has benefited greatly from them. I am most grateful to the contributors of the data files used in this edition. In particular, I thank George D'Elia of the State University of New York at Buffalo for data from his study of the impact of the Internet on public library use, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Norman Nie and D. Sunshine Hillygus for data from the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society. I also thank Elizabeth Stapleton for the Chicago Marathon data, Richard Shekelle for the Western Electric data, Harry Roberts for the bank salary data, Howard Corwin for the renal data, and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research for permission to distribute the ABC Manners poll data. I remain grateful to the General Social Survey for providing such a wealth of data.

I also wish to thank Yvonne Smith, Bonnie Shapiro, JoAnn Ziebarth, and Mary Campbell of SPSS for editorial and production support and David Nichols for many helpful suggestions and corrections. Finally, I wish to thank my husband, Bruce Stephenson, for his varied contributions to the preparation of all editions of this book.

Marija J. Norušis