Discovering Statistics Using SPSS

by Andy Field

Get the Statistics Book That's Sweeping the Nation!

Appropriate for All Levels--Undergraduate to Doctorate Programs in Every Discipline!

This new edition of Field's bestselling textbook provides students of statistical methods with everything they need to understand, use and report statistics - at every level. Written in Andy Field's vivid and entertaining style, and furnished with playful examples from everyday student life (among other places), the book forms an accessible gateway into the often intimidating world of statistics and a unique opportunity for students to ground their knowledge of statistics through the use of SPSS. The text is fully compliant with the latest release of SPSS (version 13).

Key updates in Second Edition:

- More coverage with completely new material on non-parametric statistics, loglinear analysis, effect sizes and how to report statistical analysis

- Even more student-friendly features, including a glossary of key statistical terms and exercises at the end of chapters for students to work through, with datasets and answers to chapter exercises on the accompanying CD-ROM

- A larger and more easy-to-reference format: notation in each section identifies the intended level of study while the new 2-color text design enhances the features in the book and, together with the larger format, provides extra clarity throughout

- A companion website is available at www.sagepub.co.uk/field, containing resources for both students and instructors: a testbank of MCQs for students to test their own knowledge; online glossary in flash card format; multiple choice questions and answers to use for class assessment – available on restricted access basis to instructors via entry password; and PowerPoint Slides of all formatted artwork in the textbook for instructors to include in their own lecture slides.

Andy Field is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Sussex, U.K. where his success in making statistics accessible was recognized with a teaching award in 2001.

"The Second Edition of Andy Field's Discovering Statistics Using SPSS is an excellent book and a valuable addition to the teaching of statistics in the behavioral sciences. The title of the book accurately reflects the approach taken. This is not simply a primer on how to use SPSS, but is a very good statistics text using SPSS as a vehicle for illustrating and expanding on the statistical content of the book. At the same time it also serves as a manual for SPSS, and has taught me things that I had not known about the software. I find this flexible approach to the blending of content and software to be an effective way of teaching the material. It is impossible to review this book without commenting on Andy's particular style. I enjoyed it immensely and think that it would appeal to both students and their instructors. It is refreshing to see someone who doesn't take himself too seriously."
-- David C Howell, Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Textbooks, Research, Reference, Academic

779 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Andy Field is Professor of Child Psychopathology at the University of Sussex. He has published over 70 research papers, 27 book chapters, and 17 books mostly on child emotional development and statistics.

He is the founding editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology and has been an associate editor and editorial board member for the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, Cognition and Emotion, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review and Research Synthesis Methods.

His ability to make statistics accessible and fun has been recognized with local and national teaching awards (University of Sussex, 2001; the British Psychological Society, 2007), a prestigious UK National Teaching Fellowship (2010), and the British Psychological Society book award (2006). He adores cats, and loves to listen to and play very heavy music. He lives in Brighton with his wonderful wife Zoë and Fuzzy the cat.

Reviews

[Siobhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m fairly sure this item existed on my reading list solely to leave me banging my head against a desk.

I am not a twelve-year-old boy. I do not need penis jokes every other page to hold my attention. Honestly, this book would have been much more helpful had the author not had such a juvenile sense of humour. I admit, I am somewhat childish at times (more than somewhat, in fact) but even I found this to be too much.

Seriously, the way in which it is written prevented me from focusing upon the factual information.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though this book makes SPSS seem relatively easy to learn, it's a pain to study. You follow Brian in his attempt to learn SPSS because some big-breasted woman called Jane only wishes to date guys who can 'do statistics'. At the end of every chapter the summary is transformed into this progress-status of how succesful Brian has gotten in wooing Jane with his new knowledge, until 'finally' in the last chapter Jane invites him to her place (and in the epilogue turns out to be a horrible human who misled him all along just to get a chance to cut out and steal his smart brain to eat it so she can get smart herself....?).

Was this really necessary? What demographic were they aiming at - demotivated oversexed 18-year-old guys with misogynistic issues?

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as Statistics book goes... this is AMAZING.

I'd like to add this to my book list since it's at fault for taking up most of my reading time-- this and the Social Psychology textbook. If you just have to read a book on statistics (kicking, dragging and screaming), then this is the book for people like me... who kicked, screamed and cried until I calmed down enough to read Andy Field's first sentence: "Since time immemorial, social science students have despised statistics."

And just like that, I felt less alone in the world.

Highly recommended! :)

[Lusine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hands down the most entertaining book on statistics ever. Yes, a book on statistics can be entertaining. It helped me a lot to pass an exam on statistics and is currently helping to do my own research. However, as it is always with methods, one book is never enough. This is a good and painless introduction into statistics for those who has had a very strong fear and avoiding strategy regarding statistics all their lives:) I also recommend watching Andy Fields online lectures, they are very entertaining and useful as well!

[Jitka Č. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Za co těch 5*?

1. Tu knížku jsem nečetla od první do poslední strany, ale strávila jsem s ní tolik času, že se stala neodmyslitelnou součástí mého čtenářského života a ve snech mě bude doprovázet až do smrti (pravděpodobně).

2. Jestli se někdy dostanete do situace, kdy budete muset pochopit interpretaci statistických analýz v programu SPSS, Field je dost možná nejlepší pomocník, na jakého můžete narazit.

3. Obsahuje statisticky signifikantní množství sexu, drog a rock'n rollu.

4. Kde jinde vám předvedou výpočty na příkladu obsahujícím úhoře v zadku?

5. Obsahuje kočku.

[Leanna Aker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, accessible intro to most statistics procedures using SPSS. At first, the silly goofy examples make you feel more comfortable, and after awhile, you'll start skipping over the junk and wishing it wasn't there. Overall, though, a great book for someone delving into doctoral level stats work.

[Alexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

If tabloid magazines published textbooks I imagine they would be akin to this textbook.
Field's 'jokes' and babble detract from the main points.I wanted to throw this book out of window.
Anyone who is mathematically adept, would do best to avoid reading this, lest you chew all your nails off.

[aikaterine]

This book and a lot of YouTube tutorials videos paved the way for the end of my thesis. Without their combination, I would be pretty much lost the whole time. It wasn't easy, but together, they made some sense.

[alicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

this class was horrible and this book did not make it any better

[Tori]

They tried to make it cute and fun with lots of cartoons and whatnot. But at the end of the day, this was so hard and nothing will ever make it easier 😭 I will be passing the class though so I guess it's not too bad.

[Marleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wel huilen

[Alice Wardle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm rating this book five stars, not because it's fun to read about statistics (it isn't), but because I never thought I could learn statistics and not feel like crying at the same time. Okay, maybe I cried once. But I let that slip because I was reading about 95% confidence intervals and standard errors, and I'm sure even John Von Neumanm cried when he first read about them too.

This book is honestly a God-send. As someone who is not quantitatively skilled, this book uses interesting (though very weird and provocative) examples that perfectly explain everything I ever struggled with in my statistics class. It's an oddly popular book, and who knew a statistics book could be so liked and controversial at the same time? The controversy comes from the explicit and erotic examples of the datasets used regularly throughout the book. Though it is weird reading, it does actually make the information stick better and it's more interesting to read. It's likely the only book you'll ever need as a psychology student.

[Frank Kool · Rating 5 out of 5]

To earn a degree in Psychology is to suffer through a lot of statistics courses. Fortunately, Field will make this journey into the Dark Night of the (statistical) Soul no more painful than it absolutely positively has to be. I've never encountered a resource where all the various concepts, theories, and methods were explained in such clarity and detail as in this book.
Readers may be divided about his, shall we say adolescent sense of humour, but if his gratuitous referencing to bodily fluids and/or orifices make you uncomfortable you might as well take it with a grain of salt because statistics books don't get any better than this.

Five stars out of five, keeping my fingers crossed for the exam...

[Book Addict Shaun · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPSS from 2008 to 2010 was the bane of my life and is the reason why I could not finish a Psychology degree. I am no good with numbers, at least not at this level and no matter how hard I tried I could not make sense of it. Anybody in the same boat as me will be recommended this book however I cannot recommend it and would advise others to look for something a bit simpler but that does the job just as well. Or find a friend and have them help you out. I still have nightmares about sitting at library computers wanting to scratch my eyes out figuring out SPSS.

[Jingbo Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a business statistics student, I'v read so many different kinds of introductory statistics books. Andy's book, is definitely the best one, and way better than the 2nd best one. This book is thorough, clear, and well structured. You don't need a sound mathematical knowledge to understand the contents in this book, like other books always did. From zero to master, Learn statistics and SPSS with Andy!

[Lyndsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's super weird and kind of fun, but it's statistics, and I understood about 20% of the approximately 50% I read.

[Viir · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPSS is a very complex topic for absolute beginners, understanding every statistical method etc. This book is written to be entertaining and helpful, I fully enjoyed it.

[Daniel Cojocaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful and kinda fun to read. Great for beginners.

[Iselin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for a textbook! Made concepts much easier to understand and it was funny to read. Sometimes it went a little too off topic and got a little try hard in trying to amuse me but I’ll take that over boring books in academese any day.

[Karime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, it is a long textbook, but if you must read about quantitative research and statistics, this is the book. And it is a funny one!

[whitney · Rating 1 out of 5]

hate stats.

[bookbierdl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made learning about statistics somewhat bearable…and that is the highest praise I can bestow on any book dealing with that subject

[Vitali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far the funniest book about SPSS that I've ever read! Granted, it's also the only one.

[Andrea Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy has just disconfirmed my hypothesis that statistics can't be fun... and understandable.

This book truly is a Bible for those interested in the research field of Psychology. Particularly for those whom statistic subject has been a challenge all throughout Bachelor days for. Means I may have it on my "currently reading" section for a while yet.

[Eleanor Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantastic book makes statistics fun to read. There were some sections that could be revised for accuracy or depth but on the whole this book was really good at explaining technical statistical terms in ways that undergrads could understand. Some sections had screenshots or illustrations showing procedures in SPSS that could be followed along by a person teaching themselves statistics without the benefit of a teacher. I liked this book so much that when the next edition came out, I bought it in hardcover so it will last. I use it a lot.

[Eva Evangelisious · Rating 1 out of 5]

He can be funny but there are parts in the book that are not well written. you have to go back and forth to the pages that he previously mentions sth. There are more detailed and easy to comprehend examples from other authors. Still dont know why they recommend this book for students. It is just statistics, if you want to make someone understand them, use plain English not examples for cats and irrelevant incidents of the authors' life.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need to understand statistics, this is an excellent tool to use. There are some crass examples throughout, but the book is humorous (yes, I used the word humorous to describe a statistics textbook) and breaks things down very well. Obviously, you need to have access to the SPSS software (included with my textbook) which is also a very helpful tool for statistics. Both tools made learning stats so much easier!!

[Tim Ingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't exactly like a statistics text but this is as close as it gets. It covers pretty much everything a social scientist is going to need to know in detail but at the same time provides an easy walkthrough of the standard techniques using spss examples. It is as readable as a statistics text is ever going to be.

[Mallika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never will be a fan of Statistics but Andy Fields has managed to make SPSS look like the easiest thing in the world. The equivalent of facing a ferocious dragon but really finding out that it's Mushu from Mulan. Plus, how can you go wrong with fifty thousand anecdotes about statistics when cats are involved?

[Ebonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far the best statistics text I have read when it comes to getting your head around new and unfamiliar concepts. Excellent starting point for most statistical analyses. I have used this book as a reference for my Psychology Honours year, my Masters by Research and my MSc in Applied Statistics.