Just Plain Data Analysis

Finding, Presenting, and Interpreting Social Science Data

Gary M. Klass

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781442215092
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Just Plain Data Analysis teaches students statistical literacy skills that they can use to evaluate and construct arguments about public affairs issues grounded in numerical evidence. The book addresses skills that are often not taught in introductory social science research methods courses and that are often covered sketchily in the research methods textbooks: where to find commonly used measures of political and social conditions; how to assess the reliability and validity of specific indicators; how to present data efficiently in charts and tables; how to avoid common misinterpretations and misrepresentations of data; and how to evaluate causal arguments based on numerical data. With a new chapter on statistical fallacies and updates throughout the text, the new edition teaches students how to find, interpret, and present commonly used social indicators in an even clearer and more practical way.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Measuring Political, Social, and Economic Conditions
• 2 Measuring Racial and Ethnic Inequality
• 3 Statistical Fallacies, Paradoxes, and Threats to Validity
• 4 Examining a Relationship New York City Crime Rates
• 5 Tabulating the Data and Writing about the Numbers
• 6 The Graphical Display of Data
• 7 Voting and Elections
• 8 Measuring Educational Achievement
• 9 Measuring Poverty and Inequality
• About the Author