Statistics for Social Understanding: With Stata and SPSS

· ·
· Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Ebook
416
Pages
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About this ebook

Statistics for Social Understanding: With Stata and SPSS introduces students to the way statistics is used in the social sciences--as a tool for advancing understanding of the social world. Written in an engaging and clear voice and based on the latest research on the teaching and learning of quantitative material, the text is geared to introductory students in the social sciences, including those with little quantitative background. It covers the conceptual aspects of statistics even when the mathematical details are minimized. Informed by research on teaching and learning in statistics, the book takes a universal design approach to accommodate diverse learning styles. With an early chapter on cross-tabulation, a focus on comparisons between groups throughout, and a unique chapter on causality, the text shows students the power of statistics for answering important real-world questions.

By providing thorough coverage of social science statistical topics, a balanced approach to calculation, and step-by-step directions on how to use statistical software, authors Nancy Whittier, Tina Wildhagen, and Howard J. Gold give students the ability to analyze data and explore and answer exciting questions.

To accommodate changing undergraduate courses, the text incorporates examples from both Stata and SPSS in every chapter andprovides practice problems of every type as well as readily available datasets for classroom use, including the General Social Survey, American National Election Study, and more. Each chapter concludes with a chapter summary, a section on using Stata, a section on using SPSS, and practice problems.



Statistics for Social Understanding: With Stata and SPSS is accompanied by a learning package, written entirely by Tina Wildhagen, that is designed to enhance the experience of both instructors and students. Author-written ancillaries ensure that supplementary materials match the text in voice, language, and content.

About the author

Tina Wildhagen's research and teaching interests focus on social inequality in the American education system. She teaches courses on privilege and power in American education, inequality in higher education and quantitative research methods. Much of her research and teaching investigates how the social construction of academic merit tends to favor privileged social groups. For instance, changes in the definition of academic merit over time have tended to track very closely with changes in middle class parenting practices, such that middle class students tend to adapt more quickly and effectively to changes in the definition of merit than do their less-advantaged peers. Wildhagen's work appears in various scholarly journals, including The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Perspectives, The Teachers College Record, The Journal of Negro Education and Sociology Compass. She is currently working on a project examining the rise of the first-generation college student category since the late 1990s. Howard J. Gold has been at Smith College since 1988. He teaches courses on American elections, public opinion and the media, political behavior and statistics. Gold's research focuses on public opinion, partisanship and voting behavior. He is the co-author (with Donald Baumer) of Parties, Polarization and Democracy in the United States and author of Hollow Mandates: American Public Opinion and the Conservative Shift. His work has also appeared in American Politics Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Polity, Public Opinion Quarterly and the Social Science Journal. Gold has directed Smith's study abroad program in Geneva, Switzerland, and currently serves as faculty liaison for that program. He is a native of Montreal.

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