Название: Making Effective Graphs in the Social Sciences: Fundamental Principles and Processes
Автор: Eric Johann Hiris
Издательство: Routledge
Год: 2026
Страниц: 464
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 39.2 MB

Making Effective Graphs in the Social Sciences provides the knowledge and skills for creating graphs that are easy to interpret accurately.

This includes: (a) knowledge of the different types of graphs and under what circumstances each graph is appropriate, (b) knowledge of what decisions to make when choosing graph components, such as the type of axis or data symbols, and what evidence supports those decisions, and (c) how to use consistency within and across graphs to make your graphs easier to understand. In addition to developing this knowledge base, practical skills are developed for creating effective graphs in Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS Statistics software ("SPSS"), and R. For Microsoft Excel and SPSS, this includes illustrated and annotated step-by-step instructions. Electronic resources, including full Excel and SPSS appendices and downloadable datasets hosted on the Routledge product page, support the worked examples in the book. Social science researchers and students in data-based social science courses will benefit from the focus on both knowledge and practical skills.

Instructors will find the book self-contained – allowing students to make more effective graphs with minimal instructor intervention.

Graphs are a powerful way of conveying information and an important aspect of scientific communication. Graphs may increase persuasiveness of scientific and other types of information. If you do not receive training on how to make graphs, you are not likely to be comfortable making graphs, and therefore will be less likely to make a graph when the opportunity arises. To address this, I think two things are necessary. First, individuals need to be trained on the principles of making good graphs (knowledge). Second, individuals need to know how to actually make that good graph (practical skills). With both the knowledge and the practical skills, I believe social scientists will be more likely to present their data graphically. The goal of this book is to help with both the knowledge and the practical skills. Is it not possible to just use graphing software to make a good graph? Unfortunately, one cannot expect to use the default settings of graphing software and get good results. The remedy for this is human knowledge and practical skills of how to make the graph in the way it needs to be for other humans to understand it easily and accurately.

Who is this book for?
This book is written for social science students in a methods, statistics, data visualization, or lab course. However, I think the book will be useful for anyone looking to increase their understanding of graphing and improve their practical skills. If you are not a student, you have the benefit of not needing to worry about being assigned the problems at the end of the chapters – you can still choose to complete them if you like.

"This book is an invaluable guide for students and researchers seeking clarity in data visualization. By bridging SPSS, Excel, and R, it provides practical strategies to transform data into meaningful graphics, making complex results easy to understand and communicate across audiences." - Professor Alessandro Quartiroli, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

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