Your Statistical Consultant

How do you bridge the gap between what you learned in your statistics course and the questions you want to answer in your real-world research? Oriented towards distinct questions in a "How do I?" or "When should I?" format, Your Statistical Consultant is the equivalent of the expert colleague down the hall who fields questions about describing, explaining, and making recommendations regarding thorny or confusing statistical issues. The book serves as a compendium of statistical knowledge, both theoretical and applied, that addresses the questions most frequently asked by students, researchers and instructors. Written to be responsive to a wide range of inquiries and levels of expertise, the book is flexibly organized so readers can either read it sequentially or turn directly to the sections that correspond to their concerns.

This book is intended for the statistician or student interested in becoming a statistical consultant, as well as clients who need to understand what is involved in the consulting process. It discusses different consulting environments, provides detailed descriptions of communication skills a consultant must possess, and provides concrete examples and case-studies of varying complexity. Emphasis is placed on the importance of engaging the client's understanding of the purpose and interpretation of statistical procedures.

Although many graduate students and researchers have had course work in statistics, they sometimes find themselves stumped in proceeding with a particular data analysis question. In fact, statistics is often taught as a lesson in mathematics as opposed to a strategy for answering questions about world[?], leaving beginning researchers at a loss for how to proceed. In these situations, it is common to turn to a statistical expert, the "go to" person when questions regarding appropriate data analysis emerge. Your Statistical Consultant is an authentic alternative resource for describing, explaining, and making recommendations regarding thorny or confusing statistical issues. Written to be responsive to a wide range of inquiries and levels of expertise, this book is flexibly organized so readers can either read it sequentially or turn directly to the sections that correspond to their concerns and questions.

Note: There is now a newer book, "Hints for the New Statistical Consultant," which includes most of the material in this book. This book is written for individuals with a degree in statistics or closely related field who think they may be interested in statistical consulting, but have little or no experience (which in the beginning, none of us have). There are books which focus on communicating with the client, methods of analysis, and the financial aspects of the consulting business. This book simply offers a few tips that, hopefully, will help in understanding the researcher's data, in order to answer the questions that are asked or perhaps should have been asked. There is no substitute for experience, but there are things you can do, which should help, while you are gaining that experience.

This presentation of statistical methods features extensive use of graphical displays for exploring data and for displaying the analysis. The authors demonstrate how to analyze data—showing code, graphics, and accompanying computer listings. They emphasize how to construct and interpret graphs, discuss principles of graphical design, and show how tabular results are used to confirm the visual impressions derived from the graphs. Many of the graphical formats are novel and appear here for the first time in print.

Dive deeper into SPSS Statistics for more efficient, accurate, and sophisticated data analysis and visualization SPSS Statistics for Data Analysis and Visualization goes beyond the basics of SPSS Statistics to show you advanced techniques that exploit the full capabilities of SPSS. The authors explain when and why to use each technique, and then walk you through the execution with a pragmatic, nuts and bolts example. Coverage includes extensive, in-depth discussion of advanced statistical techniques, data visualization, predictive analytics, and SPSS programming, including automation and integration with other languages like R and Python. You'll learn the best methods to power through an analysis, with more efficient, elegant, and accurate code. IBM SPSS Statistics is complex: true mastery requires a deep understanding of statistical theory, the user interface, and programming. Most users don't encounter all of the methods SPSS offers, leaving many little-known modules undiscovered. This book walks you through tools you may have never noticed, and shows you how they can be used to streamline your workflow and enable you to produce more accurate results. Conduct a more efficient and accurate analysis Display complex relationships and create better visualizations Model complex interactions and master predictive analytics Integrate R and Python with SPSS Statistics for more efficient, more powerful code These "hidden tools" can help you produce charts that simply wouldn't be possible any other way, and the support for other programming languages gives you better options for solving complex problems. If you're ready to take advantage of everything this powerful software package has to offer, SPSS Statistics for Data Analysis and Visualization is the expert-led training you need.