Название: SPSS for Research Methods: A Basic Guide, 2nd Edition
Автор: Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges
Издательство: W.W. Norton & Company
Год: 2022
Страниц: 208
Язык: английский
Формат: epub (true)
Размер: 59.0 MB

Help students interpret data and analyze results in SPSS.

This guide reveals the best ways for students to analyze data and interpret results in SPSS. Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges’s direct writing style, real sample data from her research methods class, integrated APA-style results, and detailed yet clear screenshots ensure that students feel confident using the program. Her exciting revision not only reflects the latest updates to SPSS and APA guidelines, but also includes new engaging step-by-step video tutorials.

To succeed in statistics and research methods courses—and to prepare themselves for whatever research they take on—students must develop strong data analytic skills. As SPSS is one of the most commonly used software packages for data analysis in the social sciences, I wrote this guide to help students with little or no experience to quickly and independently familiarize themselves with the program basics.

Instructors often say that they prefer to focus their lectures on the content of statistics and research methods without getting bogged down in the computer skills required for data analysis. Over 25 years of teaching these courses, I have seen that covering the essentials of SPSS takes up valuable class time that would often be better spent illustrating key concepts with real-world, research-based examples.

This IBM SPSS Statistics software (“SPSS”) guide, SPSS for Research Methods: A Basic Guide, Second Edition is designed to provide you the basics of data analysis and interpretation in a clear-cut and succinct way. I try to provide just enough information for you to accomplish the task at hand. This is not a research methods or statistics textbook, but rather a companion to your text that will help guide you through data analysis and interpretation using SPSS. Why SPSS? There are several other great data analysis packages out there, but SPSS is a very commonly used package that is tailored to the kind of analyses we use in the social sciences.

I have used sample data that are similar to the kind of data that you will likely be collecting in your research methods class: nothing too fancy or complicated. I have also used examples that my students have been interested in testing over the past few years in my research methods class, such as how having a tattoo makes people think the person is less intelligent or how being more motivated increases your GPA.

SPSS is a basic “point and click” spreadsheet program. Using navigation bars along the top menu bar and drop-down menus, you can easily accomplish a desired data analysis. I used SPSS version 27 in this book, but these commands don’t change radically over the different versions of SPSS. I also used screen shots from the PC version of SPSS.