An Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis Using Stata®: From Research Design to Final Report provides a step-by-step introduction for statistics, data analysis, or research methods classes using Stata software. Concise descriptions emphasize the concepts behind statistics rather than the derivations of the formulas. With real-world examples from a variety of disciplines and extensive detail on the commands in Stata, this text provides an integrated approach to statistical analysis, research design, and report writing for social science students.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: The research process and data collection Chapter 1: The research process and data collection Read the literature and identify gaps or ways to extend the literature Examine the theory Develop your research questions and hypotheses Develop your research method Analyze the data Write the research paper Chapter 2: Sampling techniques Sample design Selecting a sample Sampling weights Chapter 3: Questionnaire design Structured and semi-structure questionnaires Open- and closed-ended questions General guidelines for questionnaire design Designing the questions Collecting the response data Skip patterns Ethical issues Part 2: Describing Data Chapter 4: An Introduction to Stata Opening Stata and Stata Windows Working with existing data Entering your own data into Stata Using log files and saving your work Getting help Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 5: Preparing and transforming your data Checking for outliers Creating new variables Missing values in Stata Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 6: Descriptive statistics Types of variable and measurement Descriptive statistics for all types of variables -- frequency tables and modes Descriptive statistics for variables measured as ordinal, interval, and ratio scales -- median and percentiles Descriptive statistics for continuous variables -- mean, variance, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation Descriptive statistics for categorical variables measured on a nominal or ordinal scale -- cross tabulation Applying sampling weights Formatting output for use in a document (Word, Google Docs, etc.) Graphs to describe data Summary of code used in chapter Part 3: Testing Hypotheses Chapter 7: The Normal distribution The normal distribution and standard scores Sampling distributions and standard errors Examining the theory and identifying the research question and hypothesis Testing for statistical significance Rejecting or not rejecting the null hypothesis Interpreting the results Central limit theorem Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 8: Testing a hypothesis about a single mean When to use the one-sample t test Calculating the one-sample t test Conducting a one-sample t test Interpreting the output Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 9: Testing a hypothesis about two means When to use a two independent-samples t test Calculating the t statistic Conducting a t test Interpreting the output Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 10: Analysis of variance When to use one-way analysis of variance Calculating the F ratio Conducting a one-way analysis of variance test Interpreting the output Is one mean different or are all of them different? Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 11: Cross-tabulation and the chi-squared test When to use the chi-squared test Calculating the chi-squared test Conducting a chi-squared test Interpreting the output Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Part 4: Exploring relationships Chapter 12: Linear regression analysis When to use a regression analysis Correlation Simple regression analysis Multiple regression analysis Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 13: Regression Diagnostics Measurement error Specification error Multicollinearity Heteroskedasticity Endogeneity Non-normality Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 14: Regression analysis with categorical dependent variables When to use logit or probit analysis Understanding the logit model Running logit and interpreting the results Logit vs probit regression models Regression analysis with other types of categorical dependent variables Presenting the results Summary of commands used in chapter Chapter 15: Writing a research paper Introduction section of a research paper Literature review Data and methods Results Discussion Conclusions