The 5 Things You Need to Know about Statistics: Quantification in Ethnographic Research

by William W Dressler

Overview

The 5 Things You Need to Know about Statistics provides an accessible introduction to statistical thinking for anthropologists and other social scientists who feel some mixture of dread and loathing when it comes to quantification and data analysis. It is not so much an introduction to statistics as a primer on how to think statistically in order to do precise ethnographic studies. Readers will be empowered by the realization that statistics is not an arcane, enigmatical science but a set of tools for learning about the world in which we live. Unlike other books on statistics for beginners, this book-guides readers through the underlying logic of the major statistical methods before applying those methods in interpreting ethnographic research, thus emphasizing understanding of quantitative methods;-uses a single data set in explaining each method, allowing readers to grasp how different methods offer varying interpretations of the data;-discusses increasingly complex techniques in plain, easy-to-understand language intended for beginning students.;-covers five central ideas: central tendency, dispersion, Chi-square, ANOVA, correlation;-shows readers how to use these quantitative statistical methods in doing real-life ethnographic fieldwork.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611323924
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/28/2015
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William W. Dressler, professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama, is a medical anthropologist with interests in culture theory, community studies, research methods, and the relationship between culture and disease. He has adapted models of psychosocial stress to examine the association between social and cultural factors and the risk of chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease. His recent work emphasizes concepts and methods needed to evaluate the health effects of individual efforts to achieve culturally defined goals and aspirations, and he has helped develop research methods for the study of connections among cultural, individual, and biological spheres. His research has been conducted in settings as diverse as urban Great Britain, the Southeast U.S., the West Indies, Mexico, and Samoa.

Table of Contents

Introduction; The 5 Things You Need to Know about Statistics; Chapter 1 Measures of Central Tendency: The Arithmetic Mean; Chapter 2 Measures of Dispersion: The Standard Deviation; Chapter 3 The Logic of Statistical Significance Testing: Chi-Square; Chapter 4 The Logic of Statistical Significance Testing: Analysis of Variance; Chapter 5 The Logic of the Correlation Coefficient; Quantification in Ethnographic Research; Chapter 6 Some Additional Thoughts on the 5 Things You Need to Know about Statistics; Chapter 7 Three Analyses Extending the Concept of Correlation; Chapter 8 Integrating Quantitative Research in Anthropological Research Design; Chapter 9 Best of Luck!;

Editorial Reviews

The 5 Things You Need to Know About Statistics: A Meditation on Quantification in Anthropology is a terrific book. Since the subject is quantification, please let me count the ways. First, it features a truly revolutionary format, focusing upon statistical thinking, rather than statistical doing. Because it carefully examines the underlying logic of statistical concepts, it is more than another “cookbook” in which readers mechanically pick and choose statistical recipes at the risk of not fully understanding them. Particularly important, Dressler explains statistical significance with regard to the more intuitive concept of “confidence.” As a result, readers will gain a deeper understanding of probability values generated by statistical tests and how to interpret them. This alone is worth the price of the book.

Second, the book uses only one data set, which is analyzed from a variety of different perspectives to address related, but still different, questions. This provides a sense of continuity lacking in other statistical books, in which new statistical tests are invariably accompanied by new data sets. Third, the data set selected is one that ethnographers, a group not renowned for quantitative approaches, can understand as of value.  Fourth, while focusing on five basic statistical concepts, Dressler shows how these form the foundation for other more complex statistical analyses used in anthropology.

As Dressler warns, quantitative methods are not inherently easy, but this book provides a clear, coherent perspective to this underutilized approach in anthropology. So, whether you are a newbie to quantitative approaches, or need a refresher before tackling multivariate analyses, this is the book for you.”

—Eric A Roth, University of Victoria


“Dressler demystifies the essentials of statistics and lays a solid groundwork for anthropologists either hoping to get their feet wet or planning for more advanced training.”

—Daniel Hruschka, Arizona State University


“Dressler moves so skillfully from basic to advanced topics—for example, showing how correlation, which is clearly explained, lies behind more complex analyses like multiple regression and cultural consensus—that readers will barely recall how they managed to take in so much in so few pages. Not concerned with statistics per se, Dressler offers instead something more subtle and ambitious: a primer on the art and logic of statistical thinking, which aims to transform how anthropologists, in particular, conceptualize ethnographic research and analysis.”

—Jeffrey G. Snodgrass, Colorado State Universit

From the Publisher