Headings: !!Print Resources and Workbooks
- James Allan Davis. 1987. Social Differences in Contemporary America. International Thomson Publishing.
- This is the original book that introduced the "CHIPendale" software package and provides accompanying data for analysis. Davis served as the director of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) from 1971 to 1975 and is one of the founders of the General Social Survey (GSS). Although the data are no longer current, the book nonetheless provides useful substantive examples for organizing data analytic assignments for undergraduates.
- William Frey, 2004. Investigating Change in American Society: Exploring Social Trends with U.S. Census Data, 2nd Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
- This is probably the best of the contemporary workbooks known to us. It uses data from the 1950 to 2000 Censuses and investigates both trends over time and some current issues in more detail. Analytically, it is based on simple graphs and tables (two- and three-way crosstabs, mostly). The book offers a brief graphing overview.
- Topics covered in the book range from basic population trends (age structure, cohort composition, etc), to key social issues (race and inequality, immigrant assimilation, labor force, marriage and the family, households, gender, etc.). The variety of topics makes the workbook usable for a number of classes.
- The 1st edition of the book was sold with a CD with StudentCHIP software and data on it. The 2nd edition, however, has a companion web site, where all the data files can be accessed and analyzed on-line using the WebCHIP program. This is a big improvement over the earlier version, because it solves the problems with StudentCHIP incompatibility across platforms. The web site is supposed to be password protected, but the web password is shown in the book. (as of early June, no password was actually required to use the data on the web site). The site has a WebCHIP quick start manual
, WebCHIP tutorial and other resources on top of what is contained in the book.
- Gregg Lee Carter. 2003. Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: Data Happy!, Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
- This is the simplest of all the data analytic workbooks and is therefore of limited use. It uses only state level data (so the number of cases is always 50). The data and analyses are always rather simple. All interval variables have been dichotomized at the median value, and other variables seldom have more than 2-3 categories, so the number of intellectually responsible data analytic class assignments based on the book is very limited. However, some examples from the book may be nicely used as illustrations of the logic of elaboration and of the possible relationships in a three way table (additive effect, interactive effect, gross and net effect).
- The workbook is sold with a CD with the StudentCHIP program and all the data files on it. The workbook doesn't have a web site with an on-line version of the data, so it actually CAN'T be used with WebCHIP. Unfortunately, some problems of compatibility of StudentCHIP across platforms have been reported (it runs with problems on Macs). Moreover, if you decide to use the book anyway, avoid the procedure of direct standardization, as it in some cases produces numerically inaccurate results (big Ns do not agree across tables). This is another reason why we do not recommend this product very strongly.
- William H. Frey, Bill Abresch, Jonathan Yeasting. 2001. America by the Numbers: A Field Guide to the US Population. New York: New Press.
- This is a collection of brief written descriptions of basic demographic trends in the US population accompanied by Census and other data presented in simple tables, graphs and maps. It is not a workbook.
- It seems useful in providing students with first insights, as they may not often know the basic statistical picture of a phenomenon. Mostly the descriptions are very simple and quite engaging and students may find them quite interesting. However, we feel that sometimes the graphs and the meaning of the variables are not explained and labeled as fully or as well as they could and perhaps should be.
- Authors are associated with the SSDAN project. For more information you can visit the book's webpage.
- Edward R. Tufte. 2001. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd Edition. Cheshire: Graphics Press.
- This is the classic book on the use of statistical charts, graphics and tables. More than 200 illustrations of the best examples of statistical graphics with detailed analysis of what makes data displays efficient, precise and easy to read.
- Edward R. Tufte. 1990. Envisioning Information. Cheshire: Graphics Press.
- This is a sequel to The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, but unlike its predecessor, it includes a broader spectrum of exemplary designs, not only statistical data. It focuses especially on ways to display multidimensional information in maps, graphs, and other forms of presentation.
- Edward R. Tufte. 1997. Visual Explanations. Images of Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire: Graphics Press.
- This book described design strategies for presentation of motion, processes, mechanisms, and causal relationships. One of the most famous sections shows that the space shuttle Challenger was launched because various flaws in data presentations did not convince NASA that the launch was too risky in extremely low temperatures that were forecast for the launching day.
- Tukey, John W. 1977. Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
History
Last edited Wednesday, 16 June 2004 at 13:18 by mk
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