Journeys in Survey Research

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  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • SPSS Textbooks >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • SPSS for Dummies
        • SPSS Statistics for Data Analysis and Visualisation
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual >
          • Pallant 2001 (review)
          • Pallant 2005 review
          • Pallant 2007 (3rd edition)
          • Pallant 2010
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • Block 2: Analysing one variable >
        • 2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
        • 2.2: Interval scale variables
        • 2.3: Data transformations
      • Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three) >
        • 3.1 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
    • Statistics textbooks for social research
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • Survey Methods Textbooks >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom 1 (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being
    • United Kingdom 2 (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact

Block 4:  Hypothesis testing

 [Page last updated 4 September 2015]

"I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order!" as Eric Morecambe declared to André Prévin in the brilliant 1971 sketch Greig's Piano Concerto .

4.1   Hypothesis testing
My original hand-outs for statistical calculations are cursory to non-existent: by this point in the course there was less formal teaching and stats were demonstrated verbally and visually with transparencies and with work-throughs on the chalk-board.  Examples are 4.2.1  and 4.5.1 below.

The concepts and tests to be dealt with in this section are explained in the accompanying Statistical notes.  They were written by Jim Ring for the original course, in as non-technical language as possible, and were aimed at students with little or no background in mathematics or statistics.  For now you are referred to my recommended SPSS textbooks and to my selection of on-line SPSS  intros and tutorials by others.  However, there is no shortage of literature or other materials out there, especially on Youtube, Google and Wikipedia.

SPSS itself has a comprehensive set of statistics tutorials which can be accessed via the Statistics Coach but only if you have SPSS installed or are a user on a licenced site.

The Methodological Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has produced an excellent set of On-line software tutorials:
     Videos on SPSS (uses GUI rather than syntax, but the syntax is printed in the output.)
     Videos on Stata

My own materials will attempt to explain, in non-mathematical language, what the research question is, what the statistical techniques are, why they are used and how to interpret the results.  There will be very few, if any, equations except when they are built up from  graphic explanations of what the elements of the equations are and how and why they are calculated (see 4.2.1 below).

Until I get round to writing these, users with little or no knowledge (or even fear) of statistics are should look at the  wonderful series of introductory videos from the Statistics Learning Centre.  These explain basic statistical concepts in simple non-technical language and can be easily understood, not just by the (business, finance, maths, stats) secondary school students for whom they were written, but even by students in sociology, social work and the like.  Anyone who can’t follow them should perhaps not be undertaking a course at any level in any discipline, let alone one designed for postgraduates and beginning researchers in the social sciences.  The narration is clear, the explanations are gentle, the graphics are helpful and vibrant, and the examples are relevant to everyone, especially if you like chocolate! 

Start with:​
    Statistics Videos and Resources 
    Important  statistical concepts: significance, strength, association, causation
    Hypothesis tests, p-value - Statistics Help
    Choosing which statistical test to use?
Why not just watch the entire set: enjoy!

Another helpful set of video tutorials is contained in Statisticsfun by David Longstreet
​
4.2  Chi-square (for contingency tables)
4.2.1  Income differences – Statistical significance (draft only)
Demonstration, using a two-way contingency table from CROSSTABS, to test the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the earnings (from paid work) of men and women.  Step-by-step procedure to produce expected cell values (E) compare them to observed values (O) and gradually build up the equation for chi-square.
​
Follows up exercise 3.1.4.1  Income differences work-through.  

​See also the LSE Methodology tutorials:
    Two‐way contingency table and chi-squared test  (two categorical variables)
    Three‐way contingency table and chi-squared tests:  (two categorical variables controlling for third test variable) 
​

4.3  Two means (t-test)
Independent samples t‐test (continuous dependent variable, dichotomous independent variable) from LSE

Two Populations, t-test with Hypothesis is a video tutorial by Brandon Folz.  It uses orange juice as an example and is quite mathematical, but the animated diagrams demonstrate clearly what the test is trying to do.
​

4.4  Three means (one way anova)
How to Calculate and Understand Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) F Test is a very good step-by-step tutorial on Statisticsfun by David Longstreet.  It shows how to calculate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and how to understand it. It  explains how to interpret the results of an Anova test, f test and how to look up values in the f distribution table. The Anova example is for a one way anova test.  It doesn't explain why the raw differences have to be squared, but if you look at the example you will see that the un-squared ones total to zero.

A more detailed, but equally helpful pair of tutorials is 
by Brandon Folz.  In Part 1 Statistics 101: One-way Analysis of Variance, A Visual Tutorial he shows the formulae before working with the raw figures, but for statistical newbies it might be better the other way round.  The charts are very clear, but it's a shame he doesn't tabulate the actual differences before showing the summary distributions.  He does some detailed working in Part 2 Understanding the calculation using Excel, but the intermediate raw and squared differences are not shown, which is a great pity.

4.5  Regression and correlation 
​Best intros are: 
     Regression, part 1 and Regression in Excel from Statistics Learning Centre.  They use Excel, not SPSS.

See also  4.5.1 Visual aid for regression and correlation  (Idiosyncratic idea by John Hall)
       LSE tutorial Simple linear regression: (continuous dependent variable, continuous independent variable)    

4.6  Association, structure and cause (modelling)
I currently have no tutorials of my own on these topics, but they would include:
     Cluster Analysis
     Discriminant Function Analysis
     Factor Analysis
     Multiple Regression


     




.
 

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  • Home page
  • Blog
  • Search
  • Dedication
  • My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
    • Mark Abrams >
      • Abrams publications
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (transcripts)
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (audio files)
      • Mark Abrams Prize
    • Angus Campbell >
      • SRU garden reception for Angus Campbell
    • Cathie Marsh
    • Tony Coxon
    • Roger Jowell
    • James A Davis
    • Norman Nie
  • Acknowledgements
    • Unsung heroes in support services
  • About the author
    • John F Hall: Career profile
    • John F Hall: Extra-curricular professional and political activities
  • About this site
    • What people have said about this site
    • Latest additions and modifications
    • How to use this site
  • Recent and planned activities
  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • SPSS Textbooks >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • SPSS for Dummies
        • SPSS Statistics for Data Analysis and Visualisation
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual >
          • Pallant 2001 (review)
          • Pallant 2005 review
          • Pallant 2007 (3rd edition)
          • Pallant 2010
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • Block 2: Analysing one variable >
        • 2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
        • 2.2: Interval scale variables
        • 2.3: Data transformations
      • Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three) >
        • 3.1 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
    • Statistics textbooks for social research
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • Survey Methods Textbooks >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom 1 (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being
    • United Kingdom 2 (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact
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