SPSS Statistics for Data Analysis and Visualization

Foreword

In my various roles at SPSS and IBM I met Keith and Jesus many years ago. They both have over 20 years of statistical consulting experience, and they both have been training people on statistics and how to use SPSS for many years. Each has in fact trained thousands of students. They are uniquely qualified to bring the message and content of this book to you, and they have done so with rigor and grace. SPSS has so many techniques and procedures to perform both simple and complex analysis, and Keith and Jesus will introduce you to this rich tapestry so that it pays dividends in benefiting your endeavors in driving societal change based on data and analytics for years to come. This book goes beyond the elementary treatments found in most of the other books on SPSS Statistics but is written for users who do not necessarily have an advanced statistical background. It can make the reader a better analyst by expanding their toolkit to include powerful techniques that he or she might not otherwise consider but that can have a big payoff in increased insight.

Keith and Jesus’ outstanding new book on SPSS Statistics has brought back so many thoughts about this great product and the influence it has had on so many people that I thought I would briefly reminisce.

I first became involved with this software when I went to work for SPSS in 1995 as Director of Quality Assurance. A year earlier, SPSS had released its first Microsoft Windows product—which, while solid, did not really ...