Modern statistical software provides the ability to compute statistics in a timely, orderly fashion. This introductory statistics textbook presents clear explanations of basic statistical concepts and introduces students to the IBM SPSS program to demonstrate how to conduct statistical analyses via the popular point-and-click and the "syntax file" methods. The focal point is to show students how easy it is to analyse data using SPSS once they have learned the basics.

• Provides clear explanation of basic statistical concepts that provides the foundation for the beginner students' statistical journey.

• Introduces the SPSS software program.

• Gives clear explanation of the purpose of specific statistical procedures (e.g., frequency distributions, measures of central tendencies, measures of variability, etc.).

• Avoids the conventional cookbook approach that contributes very little to students' understanding of the rationale of how the correct results were obtained. The advantage of learning the IBM SPSS software package at the introductory class level is that most social sciences students will employ this program in their later years of study. This is because SPSS is one of the most popular of the many statistical packages currently available. Learning how to use this program at the very start not only familiarizes students with the utility of this program but also provides them with the experience to employ the program to conduct more complex analyses in their later years.

  Autorentext

  Doctor Robert Ho, now deceased, received his DPhil from Waikato University, New Zealand.. He retired from Central Queensland University in Australia in 2007 and was an affiliate of the Graduate School of Psychology at the Assumption University of Thailand.

  Inhalt

  ** Preface

  About the author

  Introduction to the Scientific Methodology of Research ** Introduction

  The scientific approach versus the layperson's approach

  to knowledge

  Sampling

  Research designs

  Between-groups design

  The univariate approach

  The multivariate approach

  Correlational design

  Hypothesis testing and probability theory

  Probability

  Statistics and scientific research

  Definition of statistics

  Descriptive statistics

  Inferential statistics

  Introduction to SPSS Learning how to use the SPSS software program

  .Introduction to SPSS

  Setting up a data file

  Preparing a code-book

  Data set

  Creating SPSS data file

  Data entry

  Saving and editing data file

  SPSS analysis: Windows method versus syntax method

  SPSS analysis: Windows method

  SPSS analysis: Syntax method

  SPSS output

  Results and interpretation

  ** DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

  Basic mathematical concepts and measurement ** Basic mathematical concepts

  Mathematical notations

  Measurement scales (levels of measurement)

  Nominal scales

  Ordinal scales

  Interval scales

  Ratio scales

  Types of variables

  Independent and dependent variables

  Continuous and discrete variables

  Real limits of continuous variables

  Rounding

  Frequency distributions Ungrouped frequency distributions

  SPSS: Data entry format

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Results and interpretation

  Grouped frequency distributions

  Grouping scores into class intervals

  Computing a frequency distribution of grouped scores

  SPSS method

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Percentiles and percentile ranks

  Percentiles

  Computation of percentiles (finding the score below which a specified percentage of scores will fall)

  SPSS syntax method

  Data entry format

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Another example

  Data entry format

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Percentile rank

  Computation of percentile ranks (finding the percentage of scores that fall below a given score)

  Data entry format

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Another example

  Data Entry Format

  SPSS Syntax Method

  SPSS Output

  Graphing Graphing frequency distributions

  Bar graph

  An example

  Data entry format

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS bar graph output

  Histogram

  An example

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS histogram output

  Frequency polygon

  An example

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS frequency polygon output

  Cumulative percentage curve

  An example

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS Cumulative percentage Output

  Measures of central tendency Why is central tendency important?

  Measures of central tendency

  The arithmetic mean

  How to calculate the arithmetic mean

  SPSS Window method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  How to calculate the mean from a grouped frequency distribution

  An example

  Calculating the mean from grouped frequency distribution using SPSS

  Data entry format

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  The overall mean

  An example

  How to calculate the overall mean

  using SPSS

  Data entry format

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  Properties of the mean

  The median

  Calculating the median for ungrouped scores

  Calculating the median for grouped scores

  Properties of the median

  The mode

  SPSS windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS histogram output

  The mode for grouped scores

  Comparison of the mean, median and mode

  Measures of central tendency: symmetry and skewness

  Measures of variability/dispersion What is variability?

  Range

  Standard deviation

  Calculating the standard deviation using the deviation scores method

  Calculating the standard deviation using the raw scores method

  Variance

  Using SPSS to calculate the range, the standard deviation, and the variance

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS output

  The normal distribution and standard scores The normal distribution

  Areas contained under the standard normal distribution

  Standard scores (z scores) and the normal curve

  Calculating the percentile rank with z scores

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  SPSS data file containing the first 0

  computed z scores

  Calculating the percentage of scores that fall between

  two known scores

  Calculating the percentile point with z scores

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  Table showing the 90th percentile for the set

  of 0 exam scores

  Calculating the scores that bound a specified area of the

  distribution

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  Table showing the approximate lower and upper bound scores that bound the middle 70% of the statistics exam's distribution

  Using z scores to compare performance between different distributions

  Correlation The concept of correlation

  Linear and non-linear relationships

  Characteristics of correlation

  Magnitude (strength) of relationships

  Direction of relationships

  Correlation coefficient and z scores

  Scatter plot (SPSS Windows method)

  Scatter plot (SPSS syntax method)

  Scatter plot

  Converting raw scores into z scores (SPSS Windows method)

  Converting raw scores into z scores (SPSS syntax method)

  SPSS data file containing the pairs of computed z scores

  Pearson r and the linear correlation coefficient

  Example of the Pearson r calculation

  SPSS Windows method

  SPSS syntax method

  The calculated Pearson *r

• Some issues with correlation

  Can correlation show causality?

  Spurious correlation

  Linear Regression What is linear regression?

  Linear regression and imperfect relationships

  Scatter plot and the line of best fit

  SPSS Windows method (scatter plot and line of best fit)

  SPSS syntax method (scatter plot)

  Scatter plot with line of best fit

  Least-squares regression (line of best fit): Predicting Y from *X

• How to construct the least-squares regression line: Predicting Y from *X

• SPSS Windows method (constructing the least-squares regression line equation)

  SPSS syntax method (constructin…