Beginning Statistics
An Introduction for Social Scientists
- Liam Foster - Sheffield University, UK
- Ian Diamond - UK National Statistician
- Julie Banton - Freelance Academic
Quantitative/Statistical Research (General)
Chapters address the following questions:
- Why bother learning statistics in the first place and are they relevant to real life?
- How do I make sensible tables and informative graphs?
- What are descriptive and inferential statistics and how are they used?
- What are regression and correlation anyway?
Very thorough and easily understandable introduction into the topic, hence a great additional source for students to acquire the necessary knowledge to understand statistics. Because it has a higher practical orientation, it is better suited as recommended reading in contras to the more theoretical primary literature.
This is an excellent tool for first year undergraduates. The examples are very well thought through. Excellent book for beginners with substance in it!
This would be an essential reading for students' induction into an MSc with advanced quantitative methods
This book is too conversational. I would like some more depth about the topics although it is an introductory text.
This is a good solid book that introduces the topic well. Student feedback is mainly positive - some swear by the book, while others don't find it engaging enough. The second edition is far stronger than the first.
A really useful reference book for those embarking on their statistics journey in the social sciences or a great handbook for introductory stats courses.
A simple, but elegant and eloquent book. A good start to help you passing your first Statistics module exam.
An easy to understand text with clear examples for students new to statistics.
I intend to use and promote this book to students who are interested in using statistics in their research - either students I supervise for their dissertations or those in my research design course who would like to use quantitative methods in their research. The book is written very clearly and covers all the key issues in relation to analysing and presenting quantitative data.
Although a very comprehensive approach to statistics, students often found the level of this book to be exceeding their level of understanding.
