Understanding Multivariate Research ─ A Primer for Beginning Social Scientists

Although nearly all major social science departments offer graduate students training in quantitative methods, the typical sequencing of topics generally delays training in regression analysis and other multivariate techniques until a student’s second year. William Berry and Mitchell Sanders’s Understanding Multivariate Research fills this gap with a concise introduction to regression analysis and other multivariate techniques. Their book is designed to give new graduate students a grasp of multivariate analysis sufficient to understand the basic elements of research relying on such analysis that they must read prior to their formal training in quantitative methods. Berry and Sanders effectively cover the techniques seen most commonly in social science journals--regression (including nonlinear and interactive models), logit, probit, and causal models/path analysis. The authors draw on illustrations from across the social sciences, including political science, sociology, marketing and higher education. All topics are developed without relying on the mathematical language of probability theory and statistical inference. Readers are assumed to have no background in descriptive or inferential statistics, and this makes the book highly accessible to students with no prior graduate course work.

William D. Berry is Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. He is a contributor to American Political Science Review, Public Administration Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics, and has served on the editorial board of the latter two journals. He has published several other books on related subjects, and has received the Policy Studies Organization’s Harold Laswell Award for outstanding career contributions to the study of the policy making process. Berry has also served as president of the State Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association. Mitchell Sanders is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. His research can be found in American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Public Choice, and Political Analysis. William D. Berry is Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. He is a contributor to American Political Science Review, Public Administration Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics, and has served on the editorial board of the latter two journals. He has published several other books on related subjects, and has received the Policy Studies Organization’s Harold Laswell Award for outstanding career contributions to the study of the policy making process. Berry has also served as president of the State Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association. Mitchell Sanders is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. His research can be found in American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Public Choice, and Political Analysis.