Statistical Tools An Overview of Common Applications in Social Sciences

Manfred te Grotenhuis & Theo van der Weegen

Statistics is sometimes given a bad name because it is associated with complex mathematical knowledge such as probability theory. For many students in the social sciences however, knowledge about statistics is not an end in itself but a practical means to answer research questions. Therefore, the focus of ­Statistical Tools is not on complex statistical theory, but on the proper use of common ­statistical applications and on the correct interpretation of statistical results. As such, no mathematical knowledge is required to understand the content of this textbook. Using survey data sets from recent years, we illustrate why statistics is an indispensable tool in social science research. All data (in SPSS format) are available on the Internet, allowing the reader to replicate the statistical results presentedthroughout this text. More information can be found on http://www.vangorcum.nl/EN_toonBoek.asp?PublID=4503