Understanding Social Statistics

Designed to help take the fear out of the essential use of numbers in social research, this textbook introduces students to statistics as a powerful means of revealing patterns in human behaviour. The authors provide an accessible guide to quantitative data analysis including: clear explanations of all the methods; comprehensive coverage of analytic tools; an introduction to using SPSS, the most widely used statistical analysis program; examples based on real datasets - the UK General Household Survey and the World Bank's Social Indicators of Development - available to students on the World Wide Web; helpful chapter summaries; exercises at the end of each chapter; and a glossary of key terms.

Understanding Social Statistics will be an essential textbook for courses on statistics and quantitative research across the social sciences.