Bivariate Data Analysis: A Practical Guide

This book has been written with the beginning researcher in mind. Whether collecting information to make better business decisions, complete your thesis or dissertation, or for publication, this book will provide simple step-by-step guidelines for basic data analysis which will lead to a successful research study.

Chapter 1 - Using Statistical Packages
Popular Statistical Packages

Chapter 2 - Classifying Your Data
Choosing the Proper Statistical Methods
Categorical Variables; 2 Value Limit
Categorical Variables; No Value Limit
Continuous Variables
Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Technique
Table 2-1 Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Technique
Example 2-1 Steps in Testing Your Hypothesis
Rephrasing Your Hypotheses
Example 2-2 Steps in Rewriting Your Hypothesis

Chapter 3 - Frequency Distributions
Table 3-1 Frequency Distribution - Age
Quality Control
Table 3-2 Frequency Distribution - Gender With Data Entry Errors
Table 3-3 Frequency Distribution - Gender
Summary Statistics
Example 3-1 Sample Report
Example 3-2 Steps in Preparing Frequency Distributions
Cross Tabulation
Table 3-4 Cross Tabulation - Age and Gender
Table 3-5 Cross Tabulation - Age and Gender by Working
Example 3-3 Sample Report
Example 3-4 Steps in Preparing Cross Tabulations

Chapter 4 - Descriptive Statistics
Table 4-1 Selecting the Appropriate Descriptive Statistics
Measures of Central Tendency
Table 4-2 Frequency Distribution - Customer Wait Time
Mean
Median
Mode
Table 4-3 Frequency Distribution - Daily Sales
Measures of Dispersion
Range
Variance
Standard Deviation
Reporting Your Descriptive Statistics
Example 4-1 Steps in Preparing Descriptive Statistics
Table 4-4 Descriptive Statistics
Table 4-5 Frequency Distribution - Department
Example 4-2 Sample Report

This book will answer questions like:

"I have my survey, now what?"
"What tests should I run with my data?"
"I only know how to do frequency distributions, isn't that enough?"
"Can you tell me how to read these statistical tables?"
"How do I write my results?"
"What tables should I include in my paper?"
"When should I use chi-square, t-tests, correlation, ANOVA?"
"What is the difference between a one-tailed and a two-tailed hypothesis?"
"Do reliability and validity really matter in a survey?"
"Can't I just write my own survey?"
"What is coding, precoding, and reverse coding?"

Copyright Randi L. Sims, Ph.D. All rights reserved.