Exploring Data

Jane Elliott is Research Director, Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsIntroductioPart I: Single Variables1. Distribution Variables2. Numerical Summaries of Level and Spread3. Scaling and Standardising4. Inequality5. Smoothing Time SeriesPart II: Relationships between Two Variables6. Percentage Tables7. Analysing Contingency Tables8. Handling Several Batches9. Scatterplots and Resistant Lines10. TransformationsPart III: Introducing a Third Variable11. Causal Explanations12. Three-Variable Contingency Tables and Beyond13. Longitudinal DataFootnotesReferences

“In 1988 Cathie Marsh’s first edition of Exploring Data broke new ground and became an immediate success among non-statisticians. Jane Elliott does her memory proud, lifting the book into the 21st century whilst retaining all the immediacy of its appeal.”Peter Elias, University of Warwick “This book will be widely used in the social sciences – by those who want to inject some ‘real data’ into their teaching and by those who want to use relevant examples to teach exploratory data analysis. The writing is interesting, clear and informative, and accessible to everyone, irrespective of whether they are good with numbers. Above all, this book is a good read.”Angela Dale, University of Manchester“Cathie Marsh’s original book, published 20 years ago, had a remarkable impact on students and researchers alike, liberating them to explore data – focussing on their meaning, not just the statistical significance. Jane Elliott has done an invaluable job in updating this book, taking account of developments in software and statistics.”Brendan Burchell, University of Cambridge