A Mathematical Primer For Social Statistics

The ideal primer for students and researchers across the social sciences who wish to master the necessary maths in order to pursue studies involving advanced statistical methods

A Mathematical Primer for Social Statistics, Second Edition presents mathematics central to learning and understanding statistical methods beyond the introductory level: the basic "language" of matrices and linear algebra and its visual representation, vector geometry; differential and integral calculus; probability theory; common probability distributions; statistical estimation and inference, including likelihood-based and Bayesian methods. The volume concludes by applying mathematical concepts and operations to a familiar case, linear least-squares regression.

A Mathematical Primer for Social Statistics, Second Edition presents mathematics central to learning and understanding statistical methods beyond the introductory level: the basic "language" of matrices and linear algebra and its visual representation, vector geometry; differential and integral calculus; probability theory; common probability distributions; statistical estimation and inference, including likelihood-based and Bayesian methods. The volume concludes by applying mathematical concepts and operations to a familiar case, linear least-squares regression. The Second Edition pays more attention to visualization, including the elliptical geometry of quadratic forms and its application to statistics. It also covers some new topics, such as an introduction to Markov-Chain Monte Carlo methods, which are important in modern Bayesian statistics. A companion website includes materials that enable readers to use the R statistical computing environment to reproduce and explore computations and visualizations presented in the text. The book is an excellent companion to a "math camp" or a course designed to provide foundational mathematics needed to understand relatively advanced statistical methods.

Political science and sociology increasingly rely on mathematical modeling and sophisticated data analysis, and many graduate programs in these fields now require students to take a "math camp" or a semester-long or yearlong course to acquire the necessary skills. Available textbooks are written for mathematics or economics majors, and fail to convey to students of political science and sociology the reasons for learning often-abstract mathematical concepts. A Mathematics Course for Political and Social Research fills this gap, providing both a primer for math novices in the social sciences and a handy reference for seasoned researchers. The book begins with the fundamental building blocks of mathematics and basic algebra, then goes on to cover essential subjects such as calculus in one and more than one variable, including optimization, constrained optimization, and implicit functions; linear algebra, including Markov chains and eigenvectors; and probability. It describes the intermediate steps most other textbooks leave out, features numerous exercises throughout, and grounds all concepts by illustrating their use and importance in political science and sociology. Uniquely designed and ideal for students and researchers in political science and sociology Uses practical examples from political science and sociology Features "Why Do I Care?" sections that explain why concepts are useful Includes numerous exercises Complete online solutions manual (available only to professors, email david.siegel at duke.edu, subject line "Solution Set") Selected solutions available online to students

Combining a modern, data-analytic perspective with a focus on applications in the social sciences, the Third Edition of Applied Regression Analysis and Generalized Linear Models provides in-depth coverage of regression analysis, generalized linear models, and closely related methods, such as bootstrapping and missing data. Updated throughout, this Third Edition includes new chapters on mixed-effects models for hierarchical and longitudinal data. Although the text is largely accessible to readers with a modest background in statistics and mathematics, author John Fox also presents more advanced material in optional sections and chapters throughout the book. Accompanying website resources containing all answers to the end-of-chapter exercises. Answers to odd-numbered questions, as well as datasets and other student resources are available on the author′s website. NEW! Bonus chapter on Bayesian Estimation of Regression Models also available at the author′s website.

"More than ever before, modern social scientists require a basic level of mathematical literacy, yet many students receive only limited mathematical training prior to beginning their research careers. This textbook addresses this dilemma by offering a comprehensive, unified introduction to the essential mathematics of social science. Throughout the book the presentation builds from first principles and eschews unnecessary complexity. Most importantly, the discussion is thoroughly and consistently anchored in real social science applications, with more than 80 research-based illustrations woven into the text and featured in end-of-chapter exercises. Students and researchers alike will find this first-of-its-kind volume to be an invaluable resource."--BOOK JACKET.

Originally published in 1982, this book describes those basic ideas and techniques of statistics which should be known to every social scientist. The explanations are given in careful detail at a level of mathematical sophistication which will be readily attainable by students meeting statistical methods for the first time. All the methods described are applied to, and sometimes are motivated by, genuine problems of interest arising in sociology, social policy, politics or human geography. The authors often provide a meaningful discussion of the substantive problem itself in addition to an analysis of the statistical techniques being used on it. In this way subject matter and statistical techniques are integrated in an original and effective manner. The authors combine considerable experience of shared teaching of social statistics with familiarity with its use in practical fields and in research. Their book therefore focuses on the most directly applicable methods and is carefully sequenced to promote rapid student understanding. The topic of probability – which so often confuses students – is here dealt with simply yet thoroughly. The chapter on the sources of social statistics, whilst being unusual in a text of this kind, is particularly welcome and comprehensively meets the needs of students on a wide range of courses. Introducing Social Statistics will make the vitally important field of statistics accessible to all students of the social sciences.