Data Analysis with SPSS

A First Course in Applied Statistics

Fourth Edition

Stephen Sweet
Ithaca College

Karen Grace-Martin
The Analysis Factor

Allyn & Bacon

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Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements viii
About the Authors ix
Dedication ix

Chapter 1
Key Concepts in Social Science Research 1

Overview 1

Why Do We Need Statistics? 1

Framing Topics into Research Questions 2

Theories and Hypotheses 5

Population and Samples 6

Relationships and Causality 7

Association 8
Time Order 8

Nonspuriousness 8
Data Sets 9

Parts of a Data Set 10

Reliability and Validity 11

Summary 11

Key Terms 12
Exercises 13

Chapter 2
Getting Started: Accessing, Examining, and Saving Data 23
Overview 23

The Layout of SPSS 23

Types of Variables 26

String Variables 26
Categorical Variables 26

Scale Variables 26
Initial Settings 27

Defining and
Saving a New Data Set
28

Managing Data Sets: Dropping and Adding Variables, Merging Data Sets 33
Dropping and Adding Variables 33
Merging and Importing Files 34

Loading and Examining an Existing File 35

Summary 37

Key Terms 37
Exercises 39

Chapter 3
Univariate Analysis: Descriptive Statistics 45

Overview 45

Why Do Researchers Perform Univariate Analysis? 45

Exploring Distributions of Scale Variables 46

Listing, Summarizing, and Sorting Observations 46

Histograms 49

Shapes of Distributions 52
Measures of Central Tendency 53

Measures of Spread 56
 Contents iv

Box Plots 58
Exploring Distributions of Categorical Variables 60
Pie Charts 62
Bar Charts 66
Summary 67
Key Terms 68
Exercises 69

Chapter 4
Constructing Variables 77
Overview 77
Why Construct New Variables From Existing Data? 77

Recoding Existing Variables 77

Computing New Variables 82

Recording Computations Using Syntax 84

Minimizing Missing Values in Computing New Variables 87
Summary 91

Key Terms 92
Exercises 93

Chapter 5
Assessing Association through Bivariate Analysis 105
Overview 105
Why Do We Need Significance Tests? 105

Hypotheses and Significance Tests 107

Significance Levels 108
Sample Sizes, Magnitudes of Effect and
Significance. Levels 109

Analyzing Bivariate Relationships Between Two Categorical Variables 110

Cross Tabulations 110

Bar Charts 114

Analyzing Bivariate Relationships Between Two Scale Variables 116

Correlations 116

Scatterplots 120
Summary 124
Key Terms 124

Exercises 125

Chapter 6

Comparing Group Means through Bivariate Analysis 135

Overview 135
One-Way Analysis of Variance 135
Post-hoc Tests 137
Assumptions of ANOVA 139
Independence Assumption 139
Normality Assumption 140
Equal Variance Assumption 142
Graphing the Results of ANOVA 142
Bar Charts 142
Box Plots 144
T tests 146

Independent Samples T Test 146

Paired-Samples T Test 147
Summary 149
Key Terms 149
 Contents v

Exercises 151

Chapter 7 Modeling Relationships of Multiple Variables with

Linear Regression 161

Overview 161

The Advantages of Modeling Relationships in Multiple Regression 161

Putting Theory First When to Pursue Linear Regression

-
163
Linear Regression: A Bivariate Example 164

Interpreting The ANOVA F-test 165

Interpreting Linear Regression Coefficients 166

Interpreting the R-Square Statistic 166

Putting the Statistics Together 167

Using Linear Regression Coefficients to Make Predictions 167

Using Coefficients to Graph Bivariate Regression Lines 168

Multiple Linear Regression 171

Interpreting Multiple Linear Regression Coefficients 173

Graphing a Multiple Regression 174

Other Concerns In Applying Linear Regression 176

Residuals 176
Constant Variation 177
Normality of Residuals 178

Building Multiple Variable Models 179

Degrees of Freedom 179

Collinearity 179

Dummy Variables 180

Outliers 181

Causality 181

Summary 182

Key Terms 182

Exercises 183

Chapter 8
Logistic Regression 189
Overview 189
What Is Logistic Regression? 189

When Can I Use a Logistic Regression? 190

Understanding Relationships through Probabilities 191

Logistic Regression: A Bivariate Example 192

Interpreting Odds Ratios and Logistic Regression Coefficients 193

Using Logistic Regression Coefficients to Make Predictions 194

Using Coefficients to Graph a Logistic Regression Line 195
Model Chi-Squares and Goodness of Fit 198

Multiple Variable Logistic Regression: An Example 198

Interpreting Logistic Regression Output 200

Using Multiple Variable Logistic Regression Coefficients to

Make Predictions 201

Using Multiple Variable Coefficients to Graph a Logistic Regression Line 202

Summary 204

Key Terms 204

Exercises 205
 Contents vi

Chapter 9
Writing a Research Report 213
Overview 213

Writing Style and Audience 213

The Structure of a Report 214

The Title 215
The Abstract 215
The Introduction 217
The Literature Review 218
The Methods 218
The Findings 219
The Conclusion 221
The References 222

Summary 222

Key Terms 222

Exercises 223

Chapter 10
Research Projects 225
Potential Research Projects 225

Research Project 1: Racism 227

Research Project 2: Suicide 228

Research Project 3: Criminality 229

Research Project 4: Welfare and Other Public Aid Consumption 230
Research Project 5: Sexual Behavior 231

Research Project 6: Education 232

Research Project 7: Health 233
Research Project 8: Happiness 234

Research Project 9: Your Topic 235

Appendix 1: STATES 10 Descriptives 237

Appendix 2: GSS08 File Information 242

Appendix 3: GSS08 Question Phrasing 267

Appendix 4: Variable Label Abbreviations 273

Permissions 273
References and Further Reading 274
Index 276