Straightforward Statistics

"This book provides a great introduction for students who want to undertake quantitative or mixed-methods research for their dissertation. Many are not well versed in mathematics and statistics, and this book provides a gentle introduction. Chapters 9 and 10 are especially helpful, as they cover how to present numerical information and analysis, which some other textbooks do not do as well." Carrie Philips, University of Sunderland

"This book addresses the needs of a wide range of students who may not feel confident about their ability to use statistics. It provides them with a user-friendly launch pad for using basic statistics in their research projects." Martyn Denscombe, De Montfort University

"An engaging, clear and informative introductory guide to working with statistics. Full of detailed explanations and helpful examples, this book will appeal to anyone starting out with learning statistical analysis." Rebecca Morris, University of Warwick

“This is a tremendously useful introduction to the practical issues that confront undergraduate, masters, and early year doctoral students looking to carry out quantitative social science research for the first time. While many textbooks claim to offer an accessible, user-friendly roadmap to statistics, precious few delivers on that promise like this one. The book assumes no specific software capabilities or prior knowledge of mathematics beyond basic arithmetic and offers a lifeline to students with anxieties about quantitative research. Rather than pummelling readers with impenetrable algebra or esoteric coding instructions, Dr White offers them a gentle guide to the most important decisions that they will face in their projects and gives them all the information that they need to make the correct choices. In describing the basic principles of data collection, analysis, and presentation, unnecessary complications are avoided in favour of communicating a practical understanding in layman’s terms, which is a very rare thing in methodology textbooks. I would highly recommend this to all instructors teaching university psychology, sociology, politics, or criminology students, as a handy compliment to software specific texts.” Zack Grant, University of Oxford

"This is a great simple and accessible statistics book. I will be using it with all my undergraduate students. It is particularly great to see which data sets Patrick has used and be able to use these with students in the classroom. " Bethany Simmonds, Aberystwyth University

Patrick White is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at University of Leicester.

Introduction: Why this book actually is different

1. Everybody’s talking about it: important terms explained in everyday language

2. What are numbers really about?

3. Absolute beginnings: starting statistical analysis one variable at a time

4. What you see is only half the story: why you need more than averages to describe distributions

5. How the tables turn: examining relationships between categorical variables

6. What does it all mean? Comparing distributions between groups

7. You’re so predictable: using correlations

8. Where do we draw the line? How regression analysis can tell you more than correlation

9. A graph is like a joke: if you have to explain it, it isn’t any good

10. Telling statistical stories: how to present your findings and conclusions