The Joy of Stats: A Short Guide to Introductory Statistics in the Social Sciences,

Description

The Joy of Stats offers a reader-friendly introduction to applied statistics and quantitative analysis in the social sciences and public policy. Perfect as an undergraduate text or self-study manual, it emphasizes how to understand concepts, interpret algorithms and formulas, analyze data, and answer research questions. This brand new edition offers examples and visualizations using real-life data, a revised discussion of statistical inference, and introductory examples in R and SPSS. The third edition has been extensively reorganized with shorter chapters and closer links between concepts and formulas, while retaining useful pedagogical features including key terms, practice exercises, a math refresher, and playful inserts on "the mathematical imagination." The Joy of Stats also places a strong emphasis on learning how to write and speak clearly about data results. Supported by a companion website with data sets and additional resources, The Joy of Stats is a superb choice for introducing students to applied statistics and for refreshing and reviewing stats as a social scientist, public policy professional, or community activist. Cover Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Myths CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables Preface Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE: GETTING STARTED Chapter 1: Thinking about Numbers Chapter 2: Variables Conclusion of Part One PART TWO: DISTRIBUTIONS Chapter 3: Describing and Visualizing Variable Distributions Chapter 4: Measures of Central Tendency Chapter 5: Variability Conclusion of Part Two PART THREE: STATISTICAL INFERENCE Chapter 6: Thinking about Statistical Inference Chapter 7: Doing Statistical Inference Conclusion of Part Three PART FOUR: RELATIONS AMONG VARIABLES Chapter 8: Regression Analysis Chapter 9: Comparing Means Chapter 10: Categorical Variables Chapter 11: Multivariate Analysis – First Steps Chapter 12: Reading and Writing a Research Report Conclusion of Part Four Appendix A: Math Refresher Appendix B: Charts for Distributions Annotated Bibliography Works Cited Index