Adventures in Social Research
Data Analysis Using IBM SPSS Statistics

Tenth Edition

Earl Babbie - Chapman University, USA
William E. Wagner, III - California State University, Channel Islands, USA
Jeanne Zaino - Iona College, USA

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Research Methods & Evaluation | Sociology

May 2018 | 512 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Proud sponsor of the 2019 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop.

Recipient of the 2018 Cornerstone Author Award!

Inspire students to pursue their own adventures in social research with this practical, hands-on introduction to data conceptualization, measurement, and association through active learning.

Adventures in Social Research: Data Analysis Using IBM® SPSS® Statistics offers a practical, hands-on introduction to the logic of social science research for students in many disciplines. The fully revised Tenth Edition offers step-by-step instruction on data analysis using the latest version (24.0) of SPSS and current data from the General Social Survey. Organized to parallel most introductory research methods texts, this text starts with an introduction to computerized data analysis and the social research process, then takes readers step-by-step through univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis using SPSS Statistics. The range of topics, from beginning to advanced, make Adventures in Social Research appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate courses.

For students who are using SPSS for the first time, the free online study site includes video tutorials on basic procedures and operations and includes all SPSS data sets necessary for completing the exercises in the book.

SAVE! SPSS bundles available

Adventures in Social Research, 10e + SAGE IBM® SPSS® Statistics v24.0 Student Version
Bundle ISBN: 978-1-5443-3750-0

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Preface

About the Authors

PART I. PREPARING FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Chapter 1. Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Social Research

Overview

Why Use a Database?

SPSS Statistics

Social Research: A Primer

Concepts and Theories: Deprivation Theory

Variables and Hypotheses: Religiosity

Social Research Strategies: Inductive and Deductive

Theory and Research in Practice

Conclusion

Chapter 2. The Logic of Measurement

Validity Problems

Reliability Problems

Distinguishing Between Validity and Reliability

Multiple Indicators

Levels of Measurement

Measurement and Information

Measurement Options

Classifying Variables as Discrete or Continuous

Conclusion

Chapter 3. Description of Data Sets: The General Social Survey

Sampling

Data Collection

The Codebook: Appendix A

Conclusion

PART II. UNIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Chapter 4. Using SPSS Statistics: Some Basics

Demonstration 4.1: Starting an SPSS Statistics Session

Demonstration 4.2: Exploring the Data View Portion of the Data Editor

Demonstration 4.3: Entering Data—a Preview

Demonstration 4.4: Loading a Data Set

Demonstration 4.5: Raw Data in Data View

Finding Variable Information: Values and Labels

Demonstration 4.6: Variable View Tab

Demonstration 4.7: Ending Your SPSS Statistics Session

Conclusion

Chapter 5. Describing Your Data: Religiosity

Demonstration 5.1: Opening Frequently Used Data Files

Demonstration 5.2: Setting Options—Variable Lists and Output Labels

Demonstration 5.3: Frequency Distributions

Demonstration 5.4: Frequency Distributions—Running Two or More Variables at One Time

Descriptive Statistics: Basic Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion

Demonstration 5.5: The Frequencies Procedure

Demonstration 5.6: The Descriptives Procedure—Calculating Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Variables

Demonstration 5.7: Printing Your Output (Viewer)

Demonstration 5.8: Adding Headers/Footers and Titles/Text

Demonstration 5.9: Saving Your Output (Viewer)

Demonstration 5.10: Saving Changes to Your Data Set

Conclusion

Chapter 6. Presenting Your Data in Graphic Form: Political Orientations

Graphing Data With Direct “Legacy” Dialogs

Demonstration 6.1: Frequency Table—POLVIEWS

Demonstration 6.2: SPSS Statistics Chart Editor

Demonstration 6.3: Frequency Table—PARTYID

Demonstration 6.4: Political Attitudes

Demonstration 6.5: Histogram—AGE

Demonstration 6.6: Line Chart—INCOME

Saving and Printing Your Charts

Conclusion

Chapter 7. Recoding Your Data: Religiosity and Political Orientations

Demonstration 7.1: Modifying Variables With Recode—ATTEND ? CHATT

Demonstration 7.2: Recoding AGE ? AGECAT

Demonstration 7.3: Recoding POLVIEWS ? POLREC

Demonstration 7.4: Recoding PARTYID ? PARTY

Demonstration 7.5: Saving Changes to Your Data Set

Conclusion

Chapter 8. Creating Composite Measures: Exploring Attitudes Toward Abortion in More Depth

Demonstration 8.1: Identifying the Seven Abortion Variables—File Info

Demonstration 8.2: Running Frequencies for Several Variables at Once

Index: A Form of Composite Measure

Demonstration 8.3: ABORT Index

Demonstration 8.4: Defining ABORT

Demonstration 8.5: Checking New Index—Comparing Scores on Old and New Variables

Demonstration 8.6: Running Frequencies for ABORT

Demonstration 8.7: ABINDEX

Demonstration 8.8: Running Frequencies

Conclusion

Chapter 9. Suggestions for Further Analysis

Desired Family Size

Demonstration 9.1: Respondents’ Ideal Family Size (CHLDIDEL)

Child-Rearing

Demonstration 9.2: Important Qualities for Children

Attitudes About Sexual Behavior

Demonstration 9.3: Index of Sexual Permissiveness

Prejudice

Conclusion

PART III. BIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Chapter 10. Examining the Sources of Religiosity

The Deprivation Theory of Religiosity

Testing Our Hypothesis: Correlating Religiosity and Gender

Demonstration 10.1: Running Crosstabs to Test Our Hypothesis

Demonstration 10.2: Interpreting a Crosstab With Limited Categories

Demonstration 10.3: Correlating Another Measure of Religiosity and Gender

Drawing Conclusions Carefully: Reassessing Our Original Hypothesis

Demonstration 10.4: Interpreting a Crosstab With Ordinal Variables—Religiosity and Age

Demonstration 10.5: Correlating Other Measures of Religiosity and Age

Conclusion

Chapter 11. Political Orientations as Cause and Effect

The Relationship Between POLVIEWS and PARTYID

Demonstration 11.1: POLREC by PARTY

Demonstration 11.2: PARTY by POLREC

Demonstration 11.3: POLREC by AGECAT

Demonstration 11.4: PARTY by AGECAT

Demonstration 11.5: POLREC by RELIG

Demonstration 11.6: PARTY by RELIG

Demonstration 11.7: PARTY and POLREC by SEX

Demonstration 11.8: POLREC by RACE

Demonstration 11.9: PARTY by RACE

Demonstration 11.10: Recoding EDUC ? EDCAT

Demonstration 11.11: POLREC by EDCAT

Demonstration 11.12: PARTY by EDCAT

Some Surprises: Class, Marital Status, and Politics

The Impact of Party and Political Philosophy

Saving Recoded Variable: EDCAT

Conclusion

Chapter 12. What Causes Different Attitudes Toward Abortion?

Demonstration 12.1: Gender and Abortion

Demonstration 12.2: Age and Abortion

Demonstration 12.3: Religion and Abortion

Demonstration 12.4: Politics and Abortion

Demonstration 12.5: Sexual Attitudes and Abortion

Other Factors You Can Explore on Your Own

Conclusion

Chapter 13. Measures of Association for Nominal and Ordinal Variables

The Logic of Statistical Association: Proportionate Reduction of Error

Lambda (?): A Measure Appropriate for Nominal Variables

Demonstration 13.1: Instructing SPSS Statistics to Calculate Lambda (?)

Interpreting Lambda and Other Measures

Gamma (?): A Measure Appropriate for Ordinal Variables

Demonstration 13.2: Instructing SPSS Statistics to Calculate Gamma (?)—Example 1

Demonstration 13.3: Running Gamma (?)—Example 2 (Reverse Scoring Case)

Additional Measures of Association

Analyzing the Association Between Variables at Different Levels of Measurement

Conclusion

Chapter 14. Correlation and Regression Analysis

Pearson’s r: A Measure Appropriate for Interval/Ratio Variables

Interpreting Pearson’s r and the Coefficient of Determination (r2)

Instructing SPSS Statistics to Calculate Pearson’s r

Demonstration 14.1: Recoding RINCOM16 ? RECINC

Demonstration 14.2: Using SPSS Statistics to Compute Pearson’s r

Demonstration 14.3: Requesting Several Correlation Coefficients

Regression Analysis

Demonstration 14.4: Regression

Demonstration 14.5: Presenting Data Graphically—Producing a Scatterplot With a Regression Line

Measures of Association for Interval and Ratio Variables

Analyzing the Association Between Variables at Different Levels of Measurement

Conclusion

Chapter 15. Tests of Significance

Statistical Significance

Significance Tests: Part of the Larger Body of Inferential Statistics

Statistical Significance Versus Measures of Association

Chi-Square (c2)

Demonstration 15.1: Instructing SPSS Statistics to Calculate Chi-Square

Significance and Association

Demonstration 15.2: Instructing SPSS Statistics to Run Independent-Samples t Test

Demonstration 15.3: t Test—EDUC by SEX

Analysis of Variance

Demonstration 15.4: Instructing SPSS Statistics to Run ANOVA

A Statistical Toolbox: A Summary

Conclusion

Chapter 16. Suggestions for Further Bivariate Analyses

Demonstration 16.1: Desired Family Size

Child-Rearing

Attitudes About Sexual Behavior

Demonstration 16.2: Investigating Sexual Permissiveness Further

Additional Resources

Conclusion

PART IV. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Chapter 17. Multiple Causation: Examining Religiosity in Greater Depth

Multiple Causation

Demonstration 17.1: The Impact of Age and Sex on Religiosity

Demonstration 17.2: Family Status and Religiosity

Demonstration 17.3: Family Status and Religiosity, Controlling for Age

Demonstration 17.4: Social Class and Religiosity

Other Variables to Explore

Chi-Square and Measures of Association

Multiple Regression

Conclusion

Chapter 18. Dissecting the Political Factor

Political Philosophy and Party Identification

Demonstration 18.1: Controlling for Education

Demonstration 18.2: The Mystery of Politics and Marital Status

Political Issues

Conclusion

Chapter 19. A Powerful Prediction of Attitudes Toward Abortion

Religion and Abortion

Demonstration 19.1: Religious Affiliation and Church Attendance

Demonstration 19.2: Religious Affiliation, Church Attendance, and Abortion

Politics (POLREC, PARTY) and Abortion (ABORT)

Demonstration 19.3: The Interaction of Religion and Politics on Abortion Attitudes

Demonstration 19.4: Constructing an Index of Ideological Traditionalism

Sexual Attitudes and Abortion

Demonstration 19.5: Recode PREMARSX and HOMOSEX

Demonstration 19.6: The Relationship Between Sexual Permissiveness and IND

Conclusion

Chapter 20. Suggestions for Further Multivariate Analyses

Ideal Family Size and Abortion

Child-Rearing

The Protestant Ethic

Capital Punishment, Gender, and Race

Demonstration 20.1: CAPPUN by SEX

Demonstration 20.2: CAPPUN by SEX, Controlling for RACE

Conclusion

PART V. THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

Chapter 21. Designing and Executing Your Own Survey

The Social Research Process and Proposal

Designing and Executing Your Own Survey

Getting Ready for Data Analysis Using SPSS Statistics

Step 1: Define Your Data

Demonstration 21.1: Example 1—Defining ID

Demonstration 21.2: Example 2—Defining CHLDIDEL

Demonstration 21.3: Copying a Variable

Demonstration 21.4: Saving Your New File

Step 2: Edit and Code Your Data

Demonstration 21.5: Accessing File Information for Coding and Editing

Step 3: Enter Your Raw Data

Demonstration 21.6: Moving Through Data View

Demonstration 21.7: Entering Data

Demonstration 21.8: Revising or Deleting Data

Demonstration 21.9: Saving Your Data File

Writing a Research Report

Conclusion

Chapter 22 Further Opportunities for Social Research

The Unabridged GSS

Other Data Sets

Other Computer Programs

Conclusion

Appendix A: The Codebook

Appendix B: Questionnaire for Class Survey

Index/Glossary

Supplements

Student Study Site

An open-access student study site includes all GSS data sets used in the text, and screen-cast videos created by Billy Wagner to walk students through basics of SPSS.

This book is based on sound pedagogic principles and clearly derives from current live classes: you can practically hear the authors in the text. Unlike some other textbooks, it is not just a “How to” book, but also a “Why?” book, with occasional side comments revealing the sort of wry and mischievous sense of humour which appeals to students

John F Hall

Journeys in Survey Research

Sample Materials & Chapters

10. Examining the Sources of Religiosity

14. Correlation and Regression Analysis

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Earl Robert Babbie

Earl Babbie was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1938, but his family chose to return to Vermont 3 months later, and he grew up there and in New Hampshire. In 1956, he set off for Harvard Yard, where he spent the next 4 years learning more than he initially planned. After 3 years with the US Marine Corps, mostly in Asia, he began graduate studies at the University of California—Berkeley. He received his PhD from Berkeley in 1969. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979, took time off from teaching and research to write full-time for 8 years, and then joined the faculty at Chapman... More About Author

William E. Wagner III

William E. Wagner, III, PhD, is Professor of Sociology at California State University-Channel Islands where he teaches courses in statistics and research methods. He has published research on topics such as urban sociology, sports, homophobia, and academic status. He is co-author of Adventures in Social Research, 10E (SAGE, 2018), The Practice of Survey Research (SAGE, 2016), and ?A Guide to R for Social and Behavioral Sciences ?(SAGE, 2020) and author of Using IBM® SPSS® Statistics for Research Methods and Social Science Statistics (2019). More About Author

Jeanne S. Zaino

Jeanne Zaino, Associate Professor of Political Science, Iona College, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in survey research at the University of Connecticut—Storrs. During that time, she worked as a research assistant at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. She went on to earn a master’s degree and PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts—Amherst. She is currently chair of the Political Science Department at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, where she teaches courses in American government, institutions, research methods, social statistics,... More About Author

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Adventures in Social Research
Data Analysis Using IBM SPSS Statistics

Supplements

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Earl Robert Babbie

William E. Wagner III

Jeanne S. Zaino

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