Data Analysis: An Introduction (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)

This accessible introduction to data analysis focuses on the interpretation of statistical results, in particular those which come from nonexperimental social research. It will provide social science researchers with the tools necessary to select and evaluate statistical tests appropriate for their research question. Using a consistent data-set throughout the book to illustrate the various analytic techniques, Michael Lewis-Beck covers topics such as: univariate statistics; measures of association; the statistical significance of the relationship between two variables; simple regression in which the dependent variable is influenced by a single independent variable; and multiple regression. Michael S. Lewis-Beck is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His interests are comparative elections, election forecasting, political economy, and quantitative methodology. He has been designated the 4th most cited political scientist since 1940, in the field of methodology. Professor Lewis-Beck has authored or co-authored over 240 articles and books, including Applied Regression: An Introduction, Data Analysis: An Introduction, Economics and Elections: The Major Western Democracies, Forecasting Elections, The American Voter Revisited and French Presidential Elections. He has served as an Editor of the American Journal of Political Science, the Sage QASS series (the green monographs) in quantitative methods and The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Currently he is Associate Editor of International Journal of Forecasting and Associate Editor of French Politics. In spring 2012, he held the position of Paul Lazersfeld University Professor at the University of Vienna. During the fall of 2012, he was Visiting Professor at Center for Citizenship and Democracy, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. In spring 2013, Professor Lewis- Introduction Data-Gathering Univariate Statistics Measures of Association Significance Testing Simple Regression Multiple Regression Recommendations