Understanding Political Science Statistics using SPSS: A Manual with Exercises

This manual walks students through the procedures for analysis in SPSS and provides exercises that go hand-in-hand with online data sets. The manual complements the textbook Understanding Political Science Statistics: Observations and Expectations in Political Analysis, by Peter Galderisi, making it easy to use alongside the book in a course or as a stand-alone guide to using SPSS. Galderisi demonstrates how to use both syntax and GUI driven formats and shows sample results of the analyses. Filled with annotated screenshots from SPSS version 22 (but compatible with all versions, including the student version), the students will be guided through standard processes replete with examples and exercises to ready them for future work in political science research. The diverse group of data sets provided include subsamples of both the 2008 and 2012 American National Election Studies, a Eurobarometer survey, single year and longitudinal congressional district files, the 2012 Comparative Congressional Election Study data set, and a comparative, crossnational country file. Versions with reduced case numbers and variables are also included that are compatible with the student version. This manual (and a parallel Stata manual) are available as stand-alone products or packaged with the textbook Understanding Political Science Statistics.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: General Overview: Introduction to Using SPSS for Data Analysis 1.1 SPSS File Types 1.2 First Steps Chapter 2: Setting Up the SPSS Data File for Analysis 2.1. GET FILE 2.2. WEIGHT Chapter 3: Commonly Used SPSS Commands—Operationalization 3.1. RECODE 3.2. COMPUTE 3.3. IF 3.4. SELECT IF Chapter 4: Commonly Used SPSS Commands—Data Analysis 4.1. FREQUENCIES 4.2. MEANS 4.3. T-TEST 4.4. NPAR: Tests for Proportions 4.5. CROSSTABS 4.6. REGRESSION Chapter 5: Executing Your Syntax and Saving Your Output Appendix A: Codebooks for Data Files Appendix B: An Example of a Term-Wide Set of Computer Exercises-ANES2012A

About the Author :
Peter Galderisi has taught political science methods and statistics for more than three decades, and is currently a lecturer and local internship director in the Political Science Department at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, Galderisi was a Professor or Visiting Professor at Utah State, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and Cal State Fullerton. He specializes in U.S. political parties, campaigns and elections, American political development, interest groups, and election law.

Review :
"Walking step by step through analysis of real datasets, this guide takes the guesswork out of SPSS for students, and takes the work out of an example-based approach for their professors. Real datasets – such as the ANES DW Nominate Scores – aren't easy to for students to work with, but Galderisi's clear approach takes the guesswork and confusion out of it." – Dan Cassino, Fairleigh Dickinson University “In courses on research methods, instructors often find themselves spending just as much time teaching students how to use a particular statistical program, such as SPSS, as they do on the course material. This manual helps address this problem by teaching students how to use SPSS and providing built-in exercises for practice or homework, so instructors can spend more class time focused on the course material.” – Will Hatcher, Eastern Kentucky University “Galderisi’s manual presents a wealth of information and many opportunities for students to learn how to conduct political research, including step-by-step walkthroughs and student exercises, providing the program and analytical skills that every student needs to become a proficient researcher.” – Mack Shelley, Iowa State University "Walking step by step through analysis of real datasets, this guide takes the guesswork out of SPSS for students, and takes the work out of an example-based approach for their professors. Real datasets – such as the ANES and DW Nominate Scores – aren't easy to for students to work with, but Galderisi's clear approach takes the guesswork and confusion out of it." – Dan Cassino, Fairleigh Dickinson University “In courses on research methods, instructors often find themselves spending just as much time teaching students how to use a particular statistical program, such as SPSS, as they do on the course material. This manual helps address this problem by teaching students how to use SPSS and providing built-in exercises for practice or homework, so instructors can spend more class time focused on the course material.” – Will Hatcher, Eastern Kentucky University “Galderisi’s manual presents a wealth of information and many opportunities for students to learn how to conduct political research, including step-by-step walkthroughs and student exercises, providing the program and analytical skills that every student needs to become a proficient researcher.” – Mack Shelley, Iowa State University