Data Analysis with Spreadsheets (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Randall E. Basham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

David A. Patterson and Randall E. Basham have produced the first book and CD-ROM to combine text, video and graphs to clearly describe and illustrate how social workers can use spreadsheets to collect data, analyze statistics and create graphs of research results. Students and professionals will find this an excellent guide to taking advantage of spreadsheet software, an underutilized, inexpensive and commonly available data analytic tool found in most, if not all, agency settings. Data Analysis with Spreadsheest offer instructors clearly articulated descriptions and video demonstrations of data analysis procedures that are commonly referred to in research and practice evaluation texts. This text and CD-ROM present a variety of ways to select random samples and clearly demonstrate how to produce descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, and bivariate analyses using spreadsheets.

From the Back Cover

Introduce your Social Work students to data collection, statistical analysis, and graphical representation of results using spreadsheets: an inexpensive and readily available data analytic software. This text and companion CD-ROM use videos, text, and graphics to provide students clearly articulated descriptions and demonstrations of data analysis procedures that are commonly referred to in research, statistics and practice evaluation texts.

“I have nothing but praise for this book. Hurry and publish it.”
Steve Marson, UNC Pembroke

“The CD-Rom is a valuable accompaniment to the text, especially for visual and auditory learners. The voices are audible and at a pace that listeners can easily follow along. The table layout where users can click on the chapter and topics they are interested in is easy to navigate. I would definitely consider adopting this text for my course.”
Margaret E. Adamek, Indiana University

“The authors are correct in stating that computers with spreadsheets are widely available, and that they contain powerful functions. As such, it is helpful to have a text that can show future practitioners how to use these tools to improve their practice. The CD provides an excellent supplement to the text. Students can use the CD at their own speed, can repeat lessons as necessary and can use the CD in their agencies to analyze data.”
John Goad, Arizona State University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon (April 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 020540751X
• ISBN-13: 978-0205407514
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #635,699 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars easy and cheap way to do analysis, August 13, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Quite possibly, the typical Social Work student is not from a strong mathematical or computing background. But she is often expected to understand and apply common statistical analysis on data, especially if she is a graduate student.

Patterson offers a relatively easy approach for her to acquire this knowledge. By using spreadsheets, like Microsoft Excel. Or, for that matter, she might even use the free OpenOffice spreadsheet. These now come with many common statistical functions, to compute mean, standard deviation and other metrics. Plus, a spreadsheet can often display tabulated data, in various graphical forms, like bar graphs or pie charts. There is no need to learn a language to find the statistics, and another language to graph the results.

Another benefit is that the spreadsheets are now widely available on many personal computers. Hence, what she learns here can be easily applied elsewhere.