Exploring Social Issues
Using SPSS for Windows

Third Edition

Edited by:

Joseph F. Healey - Christopher Newport University, USA
John Boli - Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Earl R. Babbie - Chapman University, USA
Fred Halley - State University of New York, Brockport

Courses:
Introductory Sociology | Research Methods in Sociology | Statistics in Sociology

February 2009 | 376 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Click on the Supplements tab above for further details on the different versions of SPSS programs.

A hands-on introduction to the craft of social research for Introductory Sociology courses, Exploring Social Issues: Using SPSS for Windows, Third Edition puts students in the role of active researchers as they test their own ideas about topics such as divorce, abortion, crime, inequality, prejudice, and television violence using SPSS, the pre-eminent software program in the social sciences.

This Third Edition uses updated General Social Survey (GSS) data sets and offers a robust SPSS primer in an appendix. The book is available in two formats: as a stand-alone text, or bundled with SPSS (Student Version).

Key Features

Stresses active and collaborative learning as students engage in a series of investigative explorations of social issues
Shows students how analyzing data from the General Social Survey, a major national research program, can help them better understand compelling social issues
Teaches students how to use SPSS as they analyze GSS data on a random sample of the population
Guides students step-by-step through exercises that have been designed for those with no background in SPSS
Includes research reports that follow a standardized fill-in-the-blank format for analyzing and presenting results, but with space left for students to summarize their results in their own words

Exploring Social Issues: Using SPSS for Windows, Third Edition can be effectively used in Introductory Sociology or other undergraduate sociology courses and may be used in conjunction with most of the standard textbooks in the field. The text is ideal for courses where the professor also wants to introduce students to doing social research and using SPSS.

Data sets available online! Click on 'Sample Materials and Chapters' on the left hand menu bar. These data sets provide historical depth, and allow students to analyze trends over time by comparing 2006 results and patterns with data from the 1972 General Social Survey.

Available Formats

ISBN: 9781412964210	Paperback	Suggested Retail Price: $142.00	Bookstore Price: $113.60
ISBN: 9781483343501	Electronic Version	Suggested Retail Price: $88.00	Bookstore Price: $70.40

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email sageheoa@sagepub.com. Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html.

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1. Getting Started: Social Research, Data Sets, and Frequency Distributions

2. Theory and Research: The Scientific Method

3. Describing the Sample, Types of Variables, and Data Sets

4. Culture: What Do Americans Value?

5. A Controversy in Values: Attitudes About Abortion

6. Socialization: What Kinds of Children Do Americans Want?

7. Crime: Fear, Law Enforcement, and Punishment

8. Inequality and Social Class in the United States

9. Inequality and Gender

10. Inequality and Race

11. The Family Institution: Forms and Functions

12. The Political Institution in the United States: Support for Civil Liberties, Presidential Choice, and the Gender Gap

Appendix A: Variable Names, Item Wordings, and Codes for All Data Sets

Appendix B: SPSS Commands Used in This Book

Answers to Selected Exercises

Glossary of Key Concepts

The SPSS software was too expensive to install in our college, otherwise the book is excellent

Dr RUKMINI POTDAR

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS, Livingstone College

August 11, 2010

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My students (SOC 201) are in a learning community and linked to MTH 104 (Survey of Statistics). This text will demonstrate the link between math and sociology most effectively. I plan to present the conceptual material myself and will use Exploring Social Issues to allow students to use the concepts while actively engaged in the work of sociology.

George Siefert

Sociology Dept, Daemen College

October 28, 2009

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Key features

Helps students learn how compelling social issues are better understood by analyzing data from a major national research program, the General Social Survey.

Uses SPSS the preeminent professional program in the social sciences.

Stresses active and collaborative learning as students engage in a series of investigative explorations of social issues, learning how to use SPSS as they analyze GSS data on a random sample of Americans

The package is self-contained and student are guided step-by-steep through all exercises.

Research reports follow a standardized fill-in-the-blank format for analyzing and presenting results but space is always left for students to summarize their results in their own words.

New to this edition:

Updated GSS data Sets with latest data available
SPSS version contains a copy of the latest version of the software available
The last edition was seen as too high-level. The exercises in this edition will be better aimed at a lower-level audience, with no experience with SPSS
Additional cross-national data is analyzed
Appendix B expanded to be a more robust primer of SPSS