Doing Data Analysis with SPSS 10.0

Rating:
Summary: Satisfactory, but could be much better.
Review: The book does a reasonably good job of covering the elementary aspects of using SPSS 10.0 for data analysis. Its primary weakness is the lack of data to duplicate the ample examples provided in the book. The book directs the reader to a web site for download of data. However, the data sets at the web site have changed and the results presented in the book cannot be verified or used for practice (e.g., the "bodyfat" data set is now "fat" and the data has changed). The book needs to be distributed with a data set. SPSS 10.0, Guide to Data Analysis by Norusis includes a data disk and it is nearly identical in most other aspects of the book. The Carver and Nash book has short sections on nonlinear models, basic forecasting techniques, and the Chi-Square tests not covered in the Norusis book if this is important to the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfactory, but could be much better.
Review: The book does a reasonably good job of covering the elementary aspects of using SPSS 10.0 for data analysis. Its primary weakness is the lack of data to duplicate the ample examples provided in the book. The book directs the reader to a web site for download of data. However, the data sets at the web site have changed and the results presented in the book cannot be verified or used for practice (e.g., the "bodyfat" data set is now "fat" and the data has changed). The book needs to be distributed with a data set. SPSS 10.0, Guide to Data Analysis by Norusis includes a data disk and it is nearly identical in most other aspects of the book. The Carver and Nash book has short sections on nonlinear models, basic forecasting techniques, and the Chi-Square tests not covered in the Norusis book if this is important to the reader.