SPSS data analysis package 3502-LIC2-SPSS
The class is basic data analysis with SPSS – the most widely used statistical package in social sciences. The main aim is to learn how to apply social statistics to data analysis – description of social problems and looking for causality - verification of hypotheses. The basic aim of the course is to learn how to use SPSS in the basic sociological analysis. The classes are hold in computer laboratory for practicing SPSS. The course contains the methods of presentation of the data (descriptive statistics) and finding the causes of social phenomena (measures of associations). The classes in the workshop are devoted to learning different modules of SPSS for data analysis using social surveys. They are focused on a specific subject i.e. social and political attitudes of the Polish youth. The last part of the course is devoted to the reporting the finding. The classes combine learning specific modules in data analysis with exploring social data, describing and explaining social life. The classes is focused about one main subject i.e. life orientation of Polish youth and learning successive modules of SPSS while discussing different social problems. The univariate analysis shows how to describe social phenomena using statistics. The bivariate analysis learn to looking for explanation. The final report is an application of the knowledge from the class to analysis of a chosen social problem with a survey data. The classes learn how to present the data and the causes of social and political attitudes in the reader-oriented way.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knows and understands basic sociological concepts
Knows how to plan and carry out a simple quantitative and qualitative study
Has basic applied knowledge of statistical description and inference
Can use academic knowledge acquired in social practice
Can plan and carry out a social study using basic quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques
Can interpret simple social phenomena using basic statistical methods
Can use the basic functions of a chosen computer program for data analysis
Can effectively collaborate with members of a task team
Can present results of his/her own research
Knows and observes the rules of professional ethics, including those pertaining to intellectual property
Assessment criteria
Participation in classes (up to 3 absences) and report. A student is prepared for a report with the special class and auxillary instructions. The reports and marks can be corrected.The criterion of final marks are: lack of statistical errors, following the insturctions, and manifestation of knowledge acquired during the class. For the good and best notes - an interesting idea for the final report.
Bibliography
J. Górniak, J. Wachnicki (2008). Pierwsze kroki w analizie danych. SPSS Polska.· S. Bedyńska, A. Brzezicka (2007). Statystyczny drogowskaz. Wyd. SWPS. G.Lissowski, J. Haman, M. Jasiński. 2008. Podstawy statystyki dla socjologów. Oficyna Naukowa Scholar.