Overview

Just Plain Data Analysis teaches students statistical literacy skills used to evaluate and construct arguments about public affairs grounded in numerical evidence. These practical skills involve finding, presenting, and interpreting commonly used social indicators, the quantitative measures of the performance of societies' institutions. These are skills and expertise that are not often covered in qualitative or quantitative research methods and statistics texts and courses but that are directly applicable to students' subsequent coursework and in a wide variety of future careers.

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9780742560536

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Reviews

As a teacher of research methods, I have been waiting for a book like Just Plain Data Analysis. By focusing on finding, presenting and interpreting data, Klass encourages students to develop the critical thinking skills that they will need once they leave the university. The writing is clear and the examples are excellent. The discussion of reliability, validity, and ecological fallacy is the best I have read in an undergraduate text. The many table and chart examples will help students improve their skills.--Bill Wilkerson

In Just Plain Data Analysis, Gary Klass analyzes simple statistics that involve sophisticated reasoning. This book cuts through paradoxes, fallacies and socially-constructed statistics to uncover the basic elements of data analysis. A must-read for anyone interested in statistical literacy. -- Milo Schield, director of the W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project, Augsburg College As a teacher of research methods, I have been waiting for a book like Just Plain Data Analysis. By focusing on finding, presenting and interpreting data, Klass encourages students to develop the critical thinking skills that they will need once they leave the university. The writing is clear and the examples are excellent. The discussion of reliability, validity, and ecological fallacy is the best I have read in an undergraduate text. The many table and chart examples will help students improve their skills. -- Bill Wilkerson, College at Oneonta, SUNY This short book is a useful supplement to traditional statistics and research method texts...Recommended. CHOICE, November 2008 With humor and political balance, Just Plain Data Analysis offers a pithy guide to finding, presenting and interpreting social science data ranging from crime to elections. Recommended for students, teachers and policymakers who want to understand where the data comes from and how to use it responsibly. -- Mark Maier, author of The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics

In Just Plain Data Analysis, Gary Klass analyzes simple statistics that involve sophisticated reasoning. This book cuts through paradoxes, fallacies and socially-constructed statistics to uncover the basic elements of data analysis. A must-read for anyone interested in statistical literacy. -- Milo Schield As a teacher of research methods, I have been waiting for a book like Just Plain Data Analysis. By focusing on finding, presenting and interpreting data, Klass encourages students to develop the critical thinking skills that they will need once they leave the university. The writing is clear and the examples are excellent. The discussion of reliability, validity, and ecological fallacy is the best I have read in an undergraduate text. The many table and chart examples will help students improve their skills. -- Bill Wilkerson This short book is a useful supplement to traditional statistics and research method texts...Recommended. Choice, November 2008 With humor and political balance, Just Plain Data Analysis offers a pithy guide to finding, presenting and interpreting social science data ranging from crime to elections. Recommended for students, teachers and policymakers who want to understand where the data comes from and how to use it responsibly. -- Mark Maier

Author Information

Gary M. Klass is associate professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University.

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