Practical Statistics

A Quick and Easy Guide to IBM® SPSS® Statistics, STATA, and Other Statistical Software

Although I use both qualitative and quantitative methods in my research and reporting, the statistics aspects have never quite come easily. Yes, I do have a collection of statistics guides on my shelf, but still found myself seeking something a little more ‘fundamental.’ I found Kremelberg’s text very easy to read, and the step-by-step approach quickly proved to be invaluable. Providing some background on the statistical tests, and then giving examples for different statistical packages was excellent, although sometimes the multitude of pictures on a page can appear a little ‘clunky’. This book could be used at the undergraduate level much more often that the complex textbooks that I usually see.

Price

While this textbook is meant as a guide for statistical software, I appreciate the fact that the authors do attempt to present students with the mathematics behind some of the methods.

very good

This is an excellent book for non-mathematicians who wish to learn the basics of statistics and want to be able to easily implement the acquired knowledge. The author provides the reader with very detailed instructions for the implementation of every statistical tool given in the book. Chapter 2 is particularly useful since it gives an easy to follow introduction to SPSS and STATA, the two statistical packages used throughout the book.
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The book is biased towards statistics used in the social sciences but it covers most of the basics for an introductory statistics course. Specifically, descriptive statistics is covered and illustrated using both packages, followed by the basic statistical tests. The fifth chapter is concerned with linear regression while generalised linear modelling follows in the next chapter. The final four chapters centre on more advanced statistical models and contain factor analysis, time-series analysis, mixed models and structural equation modelling.
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One potential amendment to the book structure would be the inclusion of non-parametric tests in the main body of the book. Also, ANOVA is considered almost separately from (hierarchical) linear regression. Some discussion of the connections among the two methods and a more extensive coverage of linear mixed models would be desirable, particularly for general biostatistical applications. Finally, I would add a small section at the end of each chapter including the mathematical derivation of the methods described in each chapter, directed to the more mathematically inclined reader.
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In conclusion, this is a concise introductory book on applied statistics which students and practitioners who intend to use quantitative methods shall find helpful, particularly those interested in social sciences.
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Nikos Demiris
Agricultural University of Athens

This book can be adopted as an essential book for the course in Econometrics, Stata course or Applied Statistics. It has a moderate amount of necessary formulas, gives the codes for Stata programs and its' outcomes (with print screens). The contents is logical, starting from simple tests, linear regression and going to multiple, with a discussion of time series and structural equation model.

A very useful text - makes understanding SPSS really simple!

SPSS support, cheap. Good suitability as a supporting textbook.

I selected another Sage book--Salkind's Statistics for People Who (think) They Hate Statistics. However, this textbook was a close second.

Not at appropriate level.