Statistical Methods for Practice and Research : A Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS

There is an all pervasive trend to use statistical methods to understand and explain various situations and phenomena in different disciplines. Managers, social scientists, and practicing researchers are collecting more and more information and applying scientific methods to analyze the data. Ability to use statistical methods and tools becomes a crucial skill for the success of such efforts. This book is designed to help managers and researchers in solving statistical problems using SPSS and to help them understand how they can use various statistical tools for their own research problems.

SPSS is a very powerful and user friendly computer package for data analyses. It can take data from most other file-types and generate tables, charts, plots, and descriptive statistics, and conduct complex statistical analyses. This book will help students, business managers, academics, as well as practicing researchers to solve statistical problems using the latest version of SPSS (14.0). After providing a brief overview of SPSS and basic statistical concepts, the book covers:

• Descriptive statistics
• t-tests, chi-square tests and ANOVA
• Correlation analysis
• Multiple and logistics regression
• Factor analysis and testing scale reliability
• Advanced data handling

Illustrated with simple, practical problems, and with the help of screen shots, this book outlines the steps for solving statistical problems using SPSS. Even though the illustrations are based on version 14.0 of SPSS, users of the earlier versions (10, 11, 12, 13) will find the book equally useful.

Written in a reader-friendly, non-technical style, this book will serve as a companion volume to any statistics textbook and will prove enormously useful to practicing managers, educators in management school,s and researchers who are just starting out.

Sanjaya Singh Gaur is an Associate Professor of Sales and Marketing at Auckland University of Technology. His experience in academia spans over two decades and includes research, consulting, teaching and training. He has taught and conducted research at BITS Pilani, ISM Dhanbad, SPJIMR Mumbai & IIT Bombay in India, the University of Hoseo and SIT University in South Korea, Linköping University in Sweden, Westphalian Wilhelms University of Muenster in Germany and Stepehen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in USA. Dr Gaur has also been consultant to several multinational companies including GlaxoSmithKline, AMO, Johnson & Johnson, HSBC, Ranbaxy Laboratories, RFCL, Geologistics India, KMPL, SGS and Godrej & Boyce. He has published books titled “Board Characteristics and Firm Performance: Evidence from New Zealand”, "Statistical Methods for Practice and Research – A Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS" and "Event Marketing and Management". Some of his research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Management Studies, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Managing Service Quality, Journal of Services Research, The Marketing Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics and Asian Journal of Marketing among others.