Essential First Steps to Data Analysis

Essential First Steps to Data Analysis PDF Author: Carol S. Parke
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412997518
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to provide instruction and guidance on preparing quantitative data sets prior to answering a study's research questions. Preparation may involve data management and manipulation tasks, data organization, structural changes to data files, or conducting preliminary analysis such as examining the scale of a variable, the validity of assumptions or the nature and extent of missing data. The oresultso from these essential first steps can also help guide a researcher in selecting the most appropriate statistical tests for his/her study. The book is intended to serve as a supplemental text in statistics or research courses offered in graduate programs in education, counseling, school psychology, behavioral sciences, and social sciences as well as undergraduate programs that contain a heavy emphasis on statistics. The content and issues covered are also beneficial for faculty and researchers who are knowledgeable about research design and able to use a statistical software package, but are unsure of the first steps to take with their data. Increasingly, faculty are forming partnerships with schools, clinics, and other institutions to help them analyze data in their extensive databases. This book can serve as a reference for helping them get existing data files in an appropriate form to run statistical analysis. This book is not a replacement for a statistics textbook. It assumes that readers have some knowledge of basic statistical concepts and use of statistical software, or that they will be learning these concepts and skills concurrently throughout the course. SPSS was chosen to illustrate the preparation, evaluation, and manipulation of data. However, students or researchers who do not use SPSS will benefit from the content since the overall structure and pedagogical approach of the book focuses heavily on the data issues and decisions to be made.

Essential First Steps to Data Analysis

Essential First Steps to Data Analysis PDF Author: Carol S. Parke
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412997518
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
The purpose of this book is to provide instruction and guidance on preparing quantitative data sets prior to answering a study's research questions. Preparation may involve data management and manipulation tasks, data organization, structural changes to data files, or conducting preliminary analysis such as examining the scale of a variable, the validity of assumptions or the nature and extent of missing data. The oresultso from these essential first steps can also help guide a researcher in selecting the most appropriate statistical tests for his/her study. The book is intended to serve as a supplemental text in statistics or research courses offered in graduate programs in education, counseling, school psychology, behavioral sciences, and social sciences as well as undergraduate programs that contain a heavy emphasis on statistics. The content and issues covered are also beneficial for faculty and researchers who are knowledgeable about research design and able to use a statistical software package, but are unsure of the first steps to take with their data. Increasingly, faculty are forming partnerships with schools, clinics, and other institutions to help them analyze data in their extensive databases. This book can serve as a reference for helping them get existing data files in an appropriate form to run statistical analysis. This book is not a replacement for a statistics textbook. It assumes that readers have some knowledge of basic statistical concepts and use of statistical software, or that they will be learning these concepts and skills concurrently throughout the course. SPSS was chosen to illustrate the preparation, evaluation, and manipulation of data. However, students or researchers who do not use SPSS will benefit from the content since the overall structure and pedagogical approach of the book focuses heavily on the data issues and decisions to be made.

The Art of Data Analysis

The Art of Data Analysis PDF Author: Kristin H. Jarman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118411315
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A friendly and accessible approach to applying statistics in the real world With an emphasis on critical thinking, The Art of Data Analysis: How to Answer Almost Any Question Using Basic Statistics presents fun and unique examples, guides readers through the entire data collection and analysis process, and introduces basic statistical concepts along the way. Leaving proofs and complicated mathematics behind, the author portrays the more engaging side of statistics and emphasizes its role as a problem-solving tool. In addition, light-hearted case studies illustrate the application of statistics to real data analyses, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of commonly used techniques. Written for the growing academic and industrial population that uses statistics in everyday life, The Art of Data Analysis: How to Answer Almost Any Question Using Basic Statistics highlights important issues that often arise when collecting and sifting through data. Featured concepts include: • Descriptive statistics • Analysis of variance • Probability and sample distributions • Confidence intervals • Hypothesis tests • Regression • Statistical correlation • Data collection • Statistical analysis with graphs Fun and inviting from beginning to end, The Art of Data Analysis is an ideal book for students as well as managers and researchers in industry, medicine, or government who face statistical questions and are in need of an intuitive understanding of basic statistical reasoning.

Head First Data Analysis

Head First Data Analysis PDF Author: Michael Milton
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 0596153937
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
A guide for data managers and analyzers. It shares guidelines for identifying patterns, predicting future outcomes, and presenting findings to others.

Research Basics

Research Basics PDF Author: James V. Spickard
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483387232
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps offers a fresh and creative approach to the research process based on author James V. Spickard’s decades of teaching experience. Using an intuitive six-step model, readers learn how to craft a research question and then identify a logical process for answering it. Conversational writing and multi-disciplinary examples illuminate the model’s simplicity and power, effectively connecting the “hows” and “whys” behind social science research. Students using this book will learn how to turn their research questions into results.

Development Research in Practice

Development Research in Practice PDF Author: Kristoffer Bjärkefur
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464816956
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Development Research in Practice leads the reader through a complete empirical research project, providing links to continuously updated resources on the DIME Wiki as well as illustrative examples from the Demand for Safe Spaces study. The handbook is intended to train users of development data how to handle data effectively, efficiently, and ethically. “In the DIME Analytics Data Handbook, the DIME team has produced an extraordinary public good: a detailed, comprehensive, yet easy-to-read manual for how to manage a data-oriented research project from beginning to end. It offers everything from big-picture guidance on the determinants of high-quality empirical research, to specific practical guidance on how to implement specific workflows—and includes computer code! I think it will prove durably useful to a broad range of researchers in international development and beyond, and I learned new practices that I plan on adopting in my own research group.†? —Marshall Burke, Associate Professor, Department of Earth System Science, and Deputy Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University “Data are the essential ingredient in any research or evaluation project, yet there has been too little attention to standardized practices to ensure high-quality data collection, handling, documentation, and exchange. Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook seeks to fill that gap with practical guidance and tools, grounded in ethics and efficiency, for data management at every stage in a research project. This excellent resource sets a new standard for the field and is an essential reference for all empirical researchers.†? —Ruth E. Levine, PhD, CEO, IDinsight “Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is an important resource and a must-read for all development economists, empirical social scientists, and public policy analysts. Based on decades of pioneering work at the World Bank on data collection, measurement, and analysis, the handbook provides valuable tools to allow research teams to more efficiently and transparently manage their work flows—yielding more credible analytical conclusions as a result.†? —Edward Miguel, Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and Faculty Director of the Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley “The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is a must-read for any data-driven researcher looking to create credible research outcomes and policy advice. By meticulously describing detailed steps, from project planning via ethical and responsible code and data practices to the publication of research papers and associated replication packages, the DIME handbook makes the complexities of transparent and credible research easier.†? —Lars Vilhuber, Data Editor, American Economic Association, and Executive Director, Labor Dynamics Institute, Cornell University

Handbook of Data Analysis

Handbook of Data Analysis PDF Author: Melissa A Hardy
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446203441
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 729

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Book Description
′This book provides an excellent reference guide to basic theoretical arguments, practical quantitative techniques and the methodologies that the majority of social science researchers are likely to require for postgraduate study and beyond′ - Environment and Planning ′The book provides researchers with guidance in, and examples of, both quantitative and qualitative modes of analysis, written by leading practitioners in the field. The editors give a persuasive account of the commonalities of purpose that exist across both modes, as well as demonstrating a keen awareness of the different things that each offers the practising researcher′ - Clive Seale, Brunel University ′With the appearance of this handbook, data analysts no longer have to consult dozens of disparate publications to carry out their work. The essential tools for an intelligent telling of the data story are offered here, in thirty chapters written by recognized experts. ′ - Michael Lewis-Beck, F Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Iowa ′This is an excellent guide to current issues in the analysis of social science data. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for authoritative introductions to the state of the art. Each chapter offers a comprehensive review and an extensive bibliography and will be invaluable to researchers wanting to update themselves about modern developments′ - Professor Nigel Gilbert, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Sociology, University of Surrey This is a book that will rapidly be recognized as the bible for social researchers. It provides a first-class, reliable guide to the basic issues in data analysis, such as the construction of variables, the characterization of distributions and the notions of inference. Scholars and students can turn to it for teaching and applied needs with confidence. The book also seeks to enhance debate in the field by tackling more advanced topics such as models of change, causality, panel models and network analysis. Specialists will find much food for thought in these chapters. A distinctive feature of the book is the breadth of coverage. No other book provides a better one-stop survey of the field of data analysis. In 30 specially commissioned chapters the editors aim to encourage readers to develop an appreciation of the range of analytic options available, so they can choose a research problem and then develop a suitable approach to data analysis.

R for Data Science

R for Data Science PDF Author: Hadley Wickham
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491910364
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
Learn how to use R to turn raw data into insight, knowledge, and understanding. This book introduces you to R, RStudio, and the tidyverse, a collection of R packages designed to work together to make data science fast, fluent, and fun. Suitable for readers with no previous programming experience, R for Data Science is designed to get you doing data science as quickly as possible. Authors Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund guide you through the steps of importing, wrangling, exploring, and modeling your data and communicating the results. You'll get a complete, big-picture understanding of the data science cycle, along with basic tools you need to manage the details. Each section of the book is paired with exercises to help you practice what you've learned along the way. You'll learn how to: Wrangle—transform your datasets into a form convenient for analysis Program—learn powerful R tools for solving data problems with greater clarity and ease Explore—examine your data, generate hypotheses, and quickly test them Model—provide a low-dimensional summary that captures true "signals" in your dataset Communicate—learn R Markdown for integrating prose, code, and results

Data Analysis for Business, Economics, and Policy

Data Analysis for Business, Economics, and Policy PDF Author: Gábor Békés
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108483011
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 741

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Book Description
A comprehensive textbook on data analysis for business, applied economics and public policy that uses case studies with real-world data.

Stats with Cats

Stats with Cats PDF Author: Charles Kufs
Publisher: Wheatmark, Inc.
ISBN: 1604944722
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
When you took statistics in school, your instructor gave you specially prepared datasets, told you what analyses to perform, and checked your work to see if it was correct. Once you left the class, though, you were on your own. Did you know how to create and prepare a dataset for analysis? Did you know how to select and generate appropriate graphics and statistics? Did you wonder why you were forced to take the class and when you would ever use what you learned? That's where Stats with Cats can help you out. The book will show you: How to decide what you should put in your dataset and how to arrange the data. How to decide what graphs and statistics to produce for your data. How you can create a statistical model to answer your data analysis questions. The book also provides enough feline support to minimize any stress you may experience. Charles Kufs has been crunching numbers for over thirty years, first as a hydrogeologist, and since the 1990s as a statistician. He is certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt by the American Society for Quality. He currently works as a statistician for the federal government and he is here to help you.

Getting Started with Data Science

Getting Started with Data Science PDF Author: Murtaza Haider
Publisher: IBM Press
ISBN: 0133991237
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 942

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Book Description
Master Data Analytics Hands-On by Solving Fascinating Problems You’ll Actually Enjoy! Harvard Business Review recently called data science “The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.” It’s not just sexy: For millions of managers, analysts, and students who need to solve real business problems, it’s indispensable. Unfortunately, there’s been nothing easy about learning data science–until now. Getting Started with Data Science takes its inspiration from worldwide best-sellers like Freakonomics and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: It teaches through a powerful narrative packed with unforgettable stories. Murtaza Haider offers informative, jargon-free coverage of basic theory and technique, backed with plenty of vivid examples and hands-on practice opportunities. Everything’s software and platform agnostic, so you can learn data science whether you work with R, Stata, SPSS, or SAS. Best of all, Haider teaches a crucial skillset most data science books ignore: how to tell powerful stories using graphics and tables. Every chapter is built around real research challenges, so you’ll always know why you’re doing what you’re doing. You’ll master data science by answering fascinating questions, such as: • Are religious individuals more or less likely to have extramarital affairs? • Do attractive professors get better teaching evaluations? • Does the higher price of cigarettes deter smoking? • What determines housing prices more: lot size or the number of bedrooms? • How do teenagers and older people differ in the way they use social media? • Who is more likely to use online dating services? • Why do some purchase iPhones and others Blackberry devices? • Does the presence of children influence a family’s spending on alcohol? For each problem, you’ll walk through defining your question and the answers you’ll need; exploring how others have approached similar challenges; selecting your data and methods; generating your statistics; organizing your report; and telling your story. Throughout, the focus is squarely on what matters most: transforming data into insights that are clear, accurate, and can be acted upon.