Hi Jan, If you and your students will have easy access to SPSS, you might take a look at Babbie, Halley & Zaino's Adventures in Social Research (Pine Forge ISBN 0-7619-8758-4). The authors lead students though the use of basic statistics to analyze data. I think they do a good job of teaching students how to approach research quantitatively. And there are no pesky equations or formulas :-> I used this in a one-semester undergraduate class for students with no background in statistics (and damned little in social research methods). Most liked it, though several of the better students wanted more detail on how the statistics "worked."
I would hastily add, however, there are a number of good _social_ statistics texts which (a) help students learn to frame research questions quantitatively, (b) provide a better background than the above text in the workings and potential pitfalls of commonly used statistical models, and (c) can be covered effectively in one semester. Three you might consider are: Joseph Healey. Statistics: A tool for social research 7th. Ed (Thomson ISBN 0-534-62794-3) Chava Frankfort-Nachmias & Anna Leon-Guerreo. Social Statistics for a Diverse Society (Pine forge ISBN 1-4129-1517-1) R. Mark Sirkin. Statistics for the Social Sciences. (SAGE ISBN 1-4129-0546-X) Best, James -----Original Message----- From: Jan Buhrmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Nov 21, 2005 10:02 AM To: [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Inquiry About Quantitative Methods Texts... Dear Listserve Members: We are beginning to implement a two-semester course plan for our undergraduate methods courses. All students will be required to take a Introductory Social Science Methods course in the Fall, which provides an overview of both qualitative and quantiative methods. Then, in Spring semesters, we will alternate semester-long courses in either quantitative or qualitative methods. I am wondering whether those of you who follow a similar course plan can recommend texts that would be appropriate for the semester-long course in quantitative methods. (For the Intro. course, I have been using with good success a combination of Babbie's 'Basics of Social Research' and Strand and Weiss' reader 'Experiencing Social Research.') So far, I have been able to find texts for use with our semester-long course in qualitative methods, but have been unable to find texts with a sole focus on quantiative methods, that do not go too heavily into statistical analysis and are appropriate for undergraduates. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. - Jan Buhrmann =============================== Jan Buhrmann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Sociology Illinois College [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------ James Cassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
