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Master the fundamentals of SPSS with this newly updated and instructive resource The newly and thoroughly revised Second Edition of SPSS Essentials delivers a comprehensive guide for students in the social sciences who wish to learn how to use the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for the effective collection, management, and analysis of data. The accomplished researchers and authors provide readers with the practical nuts and bolts of SPSS usage and data entry, with a particular emphasis on managing and manipulating data. The book offers an introduction to SPSS, how to navigate it, and a discussion of how to understand the data the reader is working with. It also covers inferential statistics, including topics like hypothesis testing, one-sample Z-testing, T-testing, ANOVAs, correlations, and regression. Five unique appendices round out the text, providing readers with discussions of dealing with real-world data, troubleshooting, advanced data manipulations, and new workbook activities. SPSS Essentials offers a wide variety of features, including: A revised chapter order, designed to match the pacing and content of typical undergraduate statistics classes An explanation of when particular inferential statistics are appropriate for use, given the nature of the data being worked with Additional material on understanding your data sample, including discussions of SPSS output and how to find the most relevant information A companion website offering additional problem sets, complete with answers Perfect for undergraduate students of the social sciences who are just getting started with SPSS, SPSS Essentials also belongs on the bookshelves of advanced placement high school students and practitioners in social science who want to brush up on the fundamentals of this powerful and flexible software package.

This edited volume focuses on the latest developments in classification and data science and covers a wide range of topics in the context of data analysis and related areas, e.g. the analysis of complex data, analysis of qualitative data, methods for high-dimensional data, dimensionality reduction, data visualization, multivariate statistical methods, and various applications to real data in the social sciences, medical sciences, and other disciplines. In addition to sharing theoretical and methodological findings, the book shows how to apply the proposed methods to a variety of problems — e.g. in consumer behavior, decision-making, marketing data and social network structures. Both methodological aspects and applications to a wide range of areas such as economics, behavioral science, marketing science, management science and the social sciences are covered. The book is chiefly intended for researchers and practitioners who are interested in the latest developments and practical applications in these fields, as well as applied statisticians and data analysts. Its combination of methodological advances with a wide range of real-world applications gathered from several fields makes it of unique value in helping readers solve their research problems.

This monograph develops a method of creating convenient coordinate systems for game theory that will allow readers to more easily understand, analyze, and create games at various levels of complexity. By identifying the unique characterization of games that separates the individual's strategic interests from the group's collective behavior, the authors construct a single analytical methodology that readers will be able to apply to a wide variety of games. With its emphasis on practicality and approachability, readers will find this book an invaluable tool, and a viable alternative to the ad hoc analytical approach that has become customary for researchers utilizing game theory.The introductory chapters serve two important purposes: they review several games of fundamental importance, and also introduce a dynamic that is inherent in games, but has gone unexplored until now. After this has been established, readers will advance from simple 2 x 2 games to games with more player strategies and dynamics. For interested readers, a rigorous treatment of the underlying mathematics is conveniently gathered at the end of the book. Additional topics of interest, such as extensive form and coalitional games, are presented to help readers visualize more complex settings that will be vital in aiding the understanding of advanced topics, such as coalition-free Nash points, multi-player repeated games, and more.Coordinate Systems for Games is ideal for a wide variety of researchers interested in game theory, including social scientists, economists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and more. The authors'approachable style also makes this accessible to an audience at any scale of experience, from beginning non-specialists to more practiced researchers.

As qualitative researchers incorporate computer assistance into their analytic approaches, important questions arise about the adoption of new technology. Is it worth learning computer-assisted methods? Will the pay-off be sufficient to justify the investment? Which programs are worth learning? What are the effects on the analysis process? This book complements the existing literature by giving a detailed account of the use of four major programs in analyzing the same data. Priority is given to the tasks of qualitative analysis rather than to program capability and the programs are treated as tools rather than as a discipline to be acquired. The key is not what the programs allow researcher to do, but whether the tasks that researchers need to undertake are facilitated by the software. Thus the study develops a user-centred approach to the adoption of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. The author emphasises qualitative analysis as a creative craft, but one which must increasingly be subject to rigorous methodological scrutiny. The adoption of computer-aided methods offers opportunities, but also dangers and ultimately this book is about the scientific qualitative research. Written in a distinctive and succinct style, this book will be valuable to social science researchers and students interested in qualitative research and in the potential for computer-assisted analysis.

This is the first workbook that introduces the multilevel approach to modeling with categorical outcomes using IBM SPSS Version 20. Readers learn how to develop, estimate, and interpret multilevel models with categorical outcomes. The authors walk readers through data management, diagnostic tools, model conceptualization, and model specification issues related to single-level and multilevel models with categorical outcomes. Screen shots clearly demonstrate techniques and navigation of the program. Modeling syntax is provided in the appendix. Examples of various types of categorical outcomes demonstrate how to set up each model and interpret the output. Extended examples illustrate the logic of model development, interpretation of output, the context of the research questions, and the steps around which the analyses are structured. Readers can replicate examples in each chapter by using the corresponding data and syntax files available at www.psypress.com/9781848729568. The book opens with a review of multilevel with categorical outcomes, followed by a chapter on IBM SPSS data management techniques to facilitate working with multilevel and longitudinal data sets. Chapters 3 and 4 detail the basics of the single-level and multilevel generalized linear model for various types of categorical outcomes. These chapters review underlying concepts to assist with trouble-shooting common programming and modeling problems. Next population-average and unit-specific longitudinal models for investigating individual or organizational developmental processes are developed. Chapter 6 focuses on single- and multilevel models using multinomial and ordinal data followed by a chapter on models for count data. The book concludes with additional trouble shooting techniques and tips for expanding on the modeling techniques introduced.Ideal as a supplement for graduate level courses and/or professional workshops on multilevel, longitudinal, latent variable modeling, multivariate statistics, and/or advanced quantitative techniques taught in psychology, business, education, health, and sociology, this practical workbook also appeals to researchers in these fields. An excellent follow up to the authors'highly successful Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling with IBM SPSS and Introduction to Multilevel Modeling Techniques, 2nd Edition, this book can also be used with any multilevel and/or longitudinal book or as a stand-alone text introducing multilevel modeling with categorical outcomes.

Quantitative data analysis is now a compulsory component of most degree courses in the social sciences and students are increasingly reliant on computers for the analysis of data. Quantitative Data Analysis with Minitab explains statistical tests for Minitab users using the same formulae free, non technical approach, as the very successful SPPS version.Students will learn a wide range of quantitative data analysis techniques and become familiar with how these techniques can be implemented through the latest version of Minitab. Techniques covered include univariate analysis (with frequency table, dispersion and histograms), bivariate (with contingency tables correlation, analysis of varience and non-parametric tests) and multivariate analysis (with multiple regression, path analysis, covarience and factor analysis). In addition the book covers issues such as sampling, statistical significance, conceptualisation and measurement and the selection of appropriate tests. Each chapter concludes with a set of exercises.Social science students will welcome this integrated, non mathematical introduction to quantitative data anlysis and the minitab package.

For those interested in finding a computer application well-suited for their own qualitative research or just learning more about the capabilities of the latest generation of computer software designed with text, Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis by Eben A. Weitzman and Matthew B. Miles probably represents the single investment they can make.... In Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis, Weitzman and Miles... provide a critical, in-depth look at 24 separate applications. The authors make an impressive team: Weitzman is a professor of social and organizational psychology with an extensive computer background, and Miles is a social psychologist who is well-known in the field of qualitative research for co-authoring a popular book on qualitative data analysis with A. Michael Huberman. Together, the two researchers have produced an informative, user-friendly sourcebook that can save readers a significant amount of time and money when shopping for a software program for qualitative data analysis. Weitzman and Miles clearly put a tremendous amount of work into Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis; they write their reviews of each application in remarkably lucid and jargon-free language in a format reminiscent of Consumer Reports. The level of detail in the reviews reflects their careful and thoughtful field-testing of 24 software programs. Reviews average about 10 pages each and actually show you what each application can do, and every review includes a series of realistic visuals (complete with helpful captions) that display what the computer screen looks like when performing various functions with that specific computer program. In addition to describing the special features of each computer program, Weitzman and Miles discuss the strengths and weaknesses of every application and make explicit comparisons with other applications in the same ′family.′'Sage Publications deserves special credit for their role in publishing Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis. Instead of issuing this book in hardcover and attaching a hefty price tag, they released it as an oversized (81/2-by-11-inch) paperback and made this valuable information available at a modest cost. Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis is the most comprehensive resource on its subject currently available, and is an excellent starting point for qualitative researchers interested in integrating computer technology more fully into their own data analysis strategies.'--Harvard Educational Review'The book by Weitzman & Miles is one of many new books on computers and qualitative software and indeed a good one.... The book is truly a user′s book--one of the useful ones.... After this first feeling of self-confidence, I just kept on reading the book and found very thorough and illuminative reviews of no less that 24 computer programs for qualitative analysis.... Renata Tesch initiated the work of making it easier for us to survey the qualitative analysis methods--Weitzman & Miles carry on in the finest way.'--Nyhedsbrer'Although the authors have a background in social and organizational psychology, their expertise on qualitative research methods is relevant to gerontologists.... The authors give a history of the use of computers in qualitative data analysis, describe the different types of programs, and suggest future directions, but the bulk of this book is reviews of the software out there.... Before you spend several hundred dollars on a software program, spend thirty and get this book.'--T. L. Brink in Clinical Gerontologist'Eben A. Weitzman and Matthew B. Miles′s valuable sourcebook on computer programs is designed exclusively for those interested in qualitative data analysis.... For qualitative researchers who want to learn or update their knowledge of the use of computer software.'--Choice'What program do I use to analyze my field notes? Eben A. Weitzman and Matthew B. Miles prov