Conceptualizing Behaviour In Health And Social Research: A Practical Guide To Data Analysis Health And Human Development

Statistical teaching is often concerned with fitting an appropriate distribution to data to gain some understanding of relationships between variables of interest. However, in a changing world and where statistics plays a major role in almost every discipline, "appropriateness" goes beyond the right distribution for the right data. We deal with data collected on every aspect of our lives, all related to human behaviour, from personal characteristics to politics. Without due consideration of substantive issues when analysing data, even the application of appropriate statistical techniques may lead to the misinterpretation of results and misleading conclusions.

The emphasis of this book is to unpack statistical thinking rather than the mathematics of statistics. This is done through anticipation and expectation of difficult issues to be addressed in real life examples. Thus, it is intended to illustrate the application of statistical concepts in order to gain insight into the subject under investigation by the appropriate development of the cognitive aspects of research. This book is a useful researcher's tool as well as teaching aid for students in behavioural studies and research.