Statistical concepts and methods
[New page 15 Jan 2014: updated 1 July 2015]
For beginners
You'll pick up a bit of statistical knowledge and competence as you progress through the course, but users with little or no knowledge (or even fear) of statistics should look at the wonderful series of introductory videos from the Statistics Learning Centre. The narration is clear, the explanations are gentle, the graphics are helpful and vibrant, and the examples are relevant to everyone, especially if you like chocolate!
They do not refer to or use SPSS, but they explain basic statistical concepts in simple non-technical language and can be easily understood, not just by the business and finance students for whom they were written, but even by students in sociology, social work and the like. Anyone who can’t follow them should perhaps not be undertaking a course at any level in any discipline, let alone one designed for postgraduates and beginning researchers in the social sciences.
See also:
Educational Project Overcoming Statistics anxiety (EPOS) is a research project at the University of Leuven and contains various reports on course construction, student experience etc.
Web Page Materials for Statistical Methods for Psychology, 8th ed (David Howell, University of Vermont)
SurfStat (Australian National University)
Series of pages illustrating statistical concepts, with exercises (links to applets may not display).
Count Us In: Quantitative skills for a new generation
Whilst not specifically for training, the British Academy has produced a series of reports (including a short video) which demonstrate how numbers, data and statistics are as important as words for understanding, implementing and monitoring social change and social policy .
Video clips
Another impressive series of video clips comprises helpful introductions written and presented by Ken Heather (Portsmouth). They set everything in a social context and can be found on Economics Network which forms part of the DeSTRESS project co-funded by the (UK) Higher Education Council and JISC (formerly Joint Information Systems Committee) Open Educational Resource Programme, in collaboration with various UK universities. They are particularly aimed at students in Economics, Geography, Sociology and Politics in collaboration with various UK universities.
Statistics notes to accompany the course
Survey Analysis Workshop (postgraduate, part-time, evening) and Data Management and Analysis (full-time undergraduate) were hands-on, practice-oriented courses in the capture, processing, management and statistical analysis of survey and similar data, as taken by students at the Polytechnic of North London from 1976 to 1992.
Originally written by Jim Ring, Statistics notes to accompany course.[pdf: 54 pages, 667 kb] derive from his teaching of the statistical component of the postgraduate version from 1982 to 1988 and use the same data as in the SPSS examples. They were expressly written for students (mainly, but not exclusively, in the social sciences) who found computers and statistics daunting, and will also be helpful for those teaching or advising such students.
They are not intended to replace recommended textbooks, and should be used in conjunction with the explanations included in SPSS help. They were written long before the appearance of the original and much sought-after SPSS Guide to Data Analysis (Norusis, 1987 -1990, for SPSS-X) Later editions relating to SPSS13 onwards for Windows make heavy use of the GUI are less helpful for beginners using syntax.
The more adventurous of you should have a look at Statistics Coach, the comprehensive set of tutorials packaged within SPSS itself (Help > Statistics Coach). or at the materials on the ESRC Quantitative Methods Initiative site and on the Quantitative Methods Teaching blog from Prof John MacInnes (Sociology, Edinburgh).
Statistics textbooks for social research
I've picked out a few books which are suitable for students in sociology, social policy and political science and listed them on Statistics textbooks for social research.
Summer Schools
There's also a useful list Summer Statistics and Methods courses offered in the USA, Europe and elsewhere compiled by Alan Reifman (Texas Technical University) .