Statistics for Research

George Argyrous is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

George Argyrous’ book is an invaluable resource to students taking introductory methods courses where SPSS is used, and I had much success and positive feedback when I included it on the syllabi of my quantitative methods and political analysis courses. It is a strong text for instructors who need an engaging textbook that covers the topics that constitute the core elements of undergraduate and postgraduate quantitative methods courses in the social sciences. A particular strength of this book is that it combines readable text on the basics of research design and quantitative methods with clear instructions on how to implement the material using the SPSS software program Thomas J. Scotto, Lecturer, Department of Government, University of Essex Statistics for Research: with a Guide to SPSS explains how to use some of the most common statistical tests using example relevant to the types of analyses undertaken by a wide range of social science researchers. The accompanying explanations of how to both undertake the tests using SPSS, and report the results appropriately, make the guide a comprehensive and ideal companion for researchers particularly those who are new to, or use quantitative methods infrequentlyJane WellensUniversity of Nottingham The book is an excellent general statistics text, with the key advantage of using SPSS to illustrate the concepts. The book would be a good text for undergraduate students on a range of social science courses or postgraduate students taking Foundation Research MethodsSteve StrandUniversity of Warwick, British Journal of Educational Psychology This is a book that I wish I′d had on two occasions in my life; the first when I started statistics as a psychology undergraduate and the second, many years later, when I embarked upon a research degree in councelling and psychology. The author provides a logical introduction to applied statistics and research methodology, clearly and carefully linking the two. After demonstrating each relevant statistical technique ′by hand′, using well-chosen examples from both the health and the social sciences, he then demonstrates how it can be carried out using SPSS... The book is accompanied by a companion website which provides valuable additional material both for the student and the lecturer. I can thoroughly recommend this book.Clive SimsMethodspace

• PART ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL ANALYSISVariables and Their MeasurementSetting up an SPSS Data FilePART TWO: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: GRAPHS AND TABLESThe Graphical Description of DataThe tabular Description of DataUsing Tables to Investigate the Relationship between Variables: Crosstabulations Measures of Association for Crosstabulations: Nominal DataMeasures of Association for Crosstabulations: Ranked DataMultivariate Analysis of Crosstabs: ElaborationPART THREE: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS: NUMERICAL MEASURESMeasures of Central TendencyMeasures of DispersionThe Normal CurveCorrelation and RegressionMultiple RegressionPART FOUR: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: TESTS FOR A MEANSampling DistributionsIntroduction to Hypothesis Testing and the One Sample z-Test for a MeanThe One Sample t-Test for a MeanInference Using Estimation and Confidence IntervalsThe Two Samples t-Test for the Equality of MeansThe f-Test for the Equality of More Than Two Means: Analysis of VarianceThe Two Dependent Samples t-Test for the Mean DifferencePART FIVE: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: TESTS FOR FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONSOne Sample Tests for a Binomial DistributionOne Sample Tests for a Multinomial DistributionThe Chi-Square Test for IndependenceFrequency Tests for Two Dependent SamplesPART SIX: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: OTHER TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCERank-Order Tests for Two or More SamplesThe t-Test for a Correlation CoefficientPART SEVEN: ADVANCED TOPICSStatistical PowerGenerating New Variables in SPSS: The Recode, Compute and Multiple Response Commands