Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: Advanced Techniques for Beginners: Amazon.ca: Andy Field: Books

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'Field's Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows is rapidly becoming the SPSS user's bible. The book aims to make the learning of advanced statistics and using of SPSS as painless as possible for students and academics alike...If you teach SPSS or indeed use it in your own research and you don't already have this book, I urge you to order copies for your library and recommend it to your students. Buy it, use it, love it' - Psychology Learning and Teaching Andy Field has written a student-oriented textbook with the aim of making the learning of advanced statistics and using SPSS as painless as possible. While other books either concentrate on statistical theory or on the functions of the popular computer program SPSS, Andy Field integrates the two to provide the student with a thorough grounding in statistics through learning to use SPSS. He provides a detailed, yet highly accessible, guide to using SPSS for more complex statistical tests. There are illustrations of dialogue boxes throughout, and each chapter concludes with a set of exercises and descriptions. The book includes a CD-ROM with SPSS datasets and the author provides a Website for further help and updates.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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4.9 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering Statistics using SPSS for Windows, Dec 16 2003

By

Ken Kolosh, Instructional Researcher at Thoms... (Naperville, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: Advanced Techniques for Beginners (Paperback)

The advent of statistical software for the personal computer in the 1980s can be argued to be both a great advancement as well as a critical liability for the field of research. Statistical software has certainly made difficult analytical tasks easier to accomplish, enabling more people to benefit from the use of quantitative techniques. The ever-increasing speed of the personal computer allows researchers to conduct complex analysis in minutes that would have taken days to complete manually. However, with this increased speed and usability comes pitfalls. The ease and speed of statistical software has encouraged some researchers to take a shotgun approach to analysis by running large numbers of analyses instead of strategically selecting analyses guided by theory. Statistical packages also make it possible to run complex procedures that may be misapplied or misinterpreted by researchers without a solid understanding of statistical principles.

No book can stop unscrupulous researchers from supporting their hypotheses by cherry picking favorable results from hundreds of analyses conducted. Well-intentioned students and researchers, however, can turn to Andy Field's book Discovering Statistics using SPSS for Windows for the statistical background and guidance needed to appropriately select, execute, and interpret results.

Field's book bridges the gap between introductory/intermediate statistical textbook and software manual. This engaging, easy to read book leads the reader through:
� Introduction to statistical models
� Exploring data
� Correlations
� Regression
� Logistic regression
� Comparing means
� ANOVA
� Complex ANOVA
� Repeated measures design
� MANOVA
� Exploratory factor analysis.
Each topic of the book begins with an overview of the applicable statistical theory. The theory is presented in non-technical language and references numerous sources for readers wanting a more in-depth review. When background material does become technical, these sections are specially labeled to alert non-technical readers. Field focuses particularly on the statistical assumptions of each statistical technique and how to use SPSS to test for them.

Following the review of statistical theory, each topic includes one or more exercises. Readers are guided step by step through each analysis from dummy coding data, through entering in the necessary SPSS commands, to interpreting SPSS output. An accompanying CD furnishes the data sets used in each exercise, allowing readers to work though each exercise and check results against the book. Through these exercises, Field shows how results can be misinterpreted without a thorough investigation of the data. Great pains are taken throughout the exercises to demonstrate the perils of blindly trusting SPSS output without understanding the theory and underlying statistical assumptions.

From this review, it is obvious that I greatly enjoyed reading the book. I assume that this book is intended primarily for students and practitioners without an extensive background in statistics. However, I found this book to be beneficial in reviewing concepts studied in graduate school more than ten years ago. Field accomplishes the difficult task of simplifying complex topics into everyday language without talking down to his readers. This book is perfectly suited for the non-statistical expert looking for guidance with running analyses with SPSS.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book saved my life, Mar 24 2004

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Foodie "sandracasillas1956" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: Advanced Techniques for Beginners (Paperback)

I have taken statistics as an undergrad and as an MBA student. I am good at math, not the stereotypical math phobic female. But I always have had problems connecting the statistics with what to do, when to do it and what the results were telling me. Well, here I am again as a graduate student working on a Masters degree in Sociology. I am working on my thesis and this book pulled everything together. It matched up SPSS and statistics so that you know what to do, why to do it, how to make SPSS do what you want, and how to interpret the results. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is very clear, very cogent, in English as opposed to stero instructions, and charming as well. I highly recommend it!

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners or advanced students and researchers, Oct 4 2002

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SMC "SMC" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: Advanced Techniques for Beginners (Paperback)

The is the best SPSS book I have ever read, and I think I've read them all! It goes beyond the basic beginner's text, and yet I think new SPSS users, and new Stat students would also find this book understandable and useful. Field's explicit and well organized descriptions and explanations of the theory, methods,diagnostic steps, and interpretation of output for various statistical procedures are fantastic, and he has a wry sense of humor that reminds us that reasearch can actually be exciting and fun (honestly!). I know I will use this book for years to come, and will buy new editions as they are printed.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Statistics is cool! after reading this book
I have spend lots of bucks in finding a appropriate book that explains the basics of statistics. Majority of the books claims that they provide the basics but they often use... Read more

Published on Mar 12 2004 by manmit shrimali

5.0 out of 5 stars Grad Student Must
I'm a PhD student in the process of analyzing survey data. This book has been the most helpful that I have found for detailing the numerous tests and variations of each test that... Read more

Published on Oct 20 2003