Doing Statistical Analysis: A Student’s Guide To Quantitative Research

267 Pages·2023·15.096 MB·English

by  Christer Thrane

Doing Statistical Analysis
Doing Statistical Analysis looks at three kinds of statistical research questions – d escriptive,
associational, and inferential – and shows students how to conduct statistical analyses
and interpret the results. Keeping equations to a minimum, it uses a conversational style
and relatable examples such as football, COVID-19, and tourism, to aid understanding.
Each chapter contains practice exercises, and a section showing students how to repro-
duce the statistical results in the book using Stata and SPSS. Digital supplements consist
of data sets in Stata, SPSS, and Excel, and a test bank for instructors. Its accessible ap-
proach means this is the ideal textbook for undergraduate students across the social and
behavioral sciences needing to build their confidence with statistical analysis.
Christer Thrane holds a PhD in Sociology and is Professor at Inland Norway Uni-
versity of Applied Science – Inland School of Business and Social Sciences. His research
interests include quantitative modeling studies in leisure, sports, and tourism. He has 25
years of experience teaching quantitative research methods, and he has written several
textbooks on this topic.

Doing Statistical Analysis
A Student’s Guide to Quantitative Research
Christer Thrane
Cover image: © watchara_tongnoi / Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Christer Thrane
The right of Christer Thrane to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Thrane, Christer, author.
Title: Doing statistical analysis : a student’s guide to quantitative research /
Christer Thrane.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022007878 (print) | LCCN 2022007879 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032180304 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032171326 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003252559 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social sciences—Research—Statistical methods. |
Research—Statistical methods.
Classification: LCC HA29 .T547 2022 (print) | LCC HA29 (ebook) | DDC
519.5—dc23/eng/20220224
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022007878
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022007879
ISBN: 978-1-032-18030-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-17132-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25255-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003252559
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032171326
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 What Is Statistical Analysis from a Research Perspective? 1
1.1 A Statistical Association: COVID-19 Spread and Residential
Property Prices 1
1.2 Why Do Statistical Analysis in Research? The Book’s Purpose and
Pedagogical Approach 3
1.3 Three Types of Statistical Research Questions: Descriptive,
Associational, and Inferential 5
1.4 Some Key Concepts You Really Should Understand 5
1.5 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and the Organization of the
Rest of the Book 8
Notes 10
2 Descriptive Research Questions 11
2.1 Introduction and Chapter Overview 11
2.2 What is Typical? Three Measures of Central Tendency:
Mean, Median, and Mode 11
2.3 Variables’ Measurement Levels: Continuous or Categorical Variables 20
2.4 Ordinal Variables: A Third and Special-Case Measurement Level 25
2.5 Visual Presentation of Descriptive Statistics: Graphs 27
2.6 The Concept of Variation: Statistical Spread for Continuous Variables 30
2.7 Foreshadowing Associational Research Questions: Descriptive Statistics for
Subgroups 35
2.8 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and Further Reading 35
2.9 E xecuting Statistical Commands: Do-Files in Stata and
Syntax-Files in SPSS 37
2.10 Chapter Exercises with Solutions 47
Notes 50
Appendix A: Christmas Beer Data 52
Appendix B: Soccer Data 53
Appendix C: Student Exercise Data 55
vi Contents
3 Associational Research Questions I: Bivariate Analysis 57
3.1 Introduction: The Association between Two Variables, x and y 57
3.2 A Categorical x and a Categorical y: Cross-Tabulation 57
3.3 A Categorical x and a Continuous y: ANOVA 61
3.4 A Continuous x and a Continuous y: Regression Analysis 64
3.5 An Ordinal y and Bivariate Analysis 71
3.6 The Limitations of Bivariate Analysis: The Need for Statistical
Control for a Third Variable 74
3.7 Experimental Control for a Third (and Fourth) Variable 75
3.8 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and Further Reading 76
3.9 Do-Files in Stata and Syntax-Files in SPSS 77
3.10 Chapter Exercises with Solutions 85
Notes 91
4 Associational Research Questions II: Multiple Regression 93
4.1 Introduction and Chapter Overview 93
4.2 Statistical Control for Observational Data: Two Examples 93
4.3 The Multiple Regression Model and R2 100
4.4 Non-Linear Effects 104
4.5 Interaction Effects (Moderator Effects) 110
4.6 Regression on Experimental Data 115
4.7 A Dummy y 119
4.8 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and Further Reading 125
4.9 Do-Files in Stata and Syntax-Files in SPSS 125
4.10 Chapter Exercises with Solutions 136
Notes 143
Appendix A: Student Exercise Motive Data 145
Appendix B: Student Tourism Data 147
Appendix C: Red Wine Data 148
5 Inferential Research Questions 149
5.1 Introduction and Chapter Overview 149
5.2 Samples, Populations, and Random Sampling 149
5.3 Repeated Sampling and the Normal Distribution 151
5.4 The 95 Percent CI for Descriptive Statistics: Means and Proportions 155
5.5 The 95 Percent CI for Variable Associations 158
5.6 Verifying That Random Sampling and the Central Limit
Theorem Work as Promised 161
5.7 Hypothesis Testing and the Assessment of Statistical Significance 164
5.8 Critical Aspects of Significance Testing 175
5.9 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and Further Reading 178
5.10 Do-Files in Stata and Syntax-Files in SPSS 179
5.11 Chapter Exercises with Solutions 185
Notes 193
Contents vii
6 Doing Quantitative Research: Some Tricks of the Trade 196
6.1 Introduction and Chapter Overview 196
6.2 Creating, Recoding, and Labeling New Variables 196
6.3 Creating a New Variable by Combining Existing Variables 199
6.4 Missing Data and What to Do about Them 201
6.5 Outliers: When Too Much Information Causes Trouble 209
6.6 The Assumptions of Regression Analysis 212
6.7 Effect Sizes 221
6.8 How to Present and Communicate Statistical-Association Results 224
6.9 Chapter Summary, Key Learning Points, and Further Reading 231
6.10 Statistical Commands: Do-Files in Stata and Syntax-Files in SPSS 232
6.11 Chapter Exercises with Solutions 238
Notes 246
Appendix A: Female Student Weight Data 248
References 249
Index 251

Acknowledgments
Thanks to Natalie Tomlinson for the opportunity to publish this textbook on Rout-
ledge. Thanks also to the reviewers for valuable suggestions to the book project at the
outset, and to Henning Bueie for initially helping me with some of the book’s figures.
Per Arne Tufte deserves a big thank-you for comments on the complete book draft. All
remaining errors and ambiguities are, of course, my responsibility.
I recently published a textbook on regression analysis on Routledge (Thrane, 2020).
Some of the material in the present book, especially in Chapters 4 and 6, draw heavily
from my regression book. I also published two Norwegian textbooks on quantitative
research methods/statistics in 2018 and 2020. Some of the material in these books have
been adapted and have found its way into the present volume. A big thank-you to all
those contributing to my previous Norwegian textbooks.
Lillehammer, Norway, November 2021
Christer Thrane