統計是社會學與其他社會科學（包含政治學、社會工作、公共行政、刑事司法、都市研究、與老年學…等）日常語言的一部分。這些學科以研究為基礎，經常使用統計資料來表達知識與討論理論和研究。為了參與這些學科的對話，我們必須掌握研究、資料分析和科學思考的語彙。統計的知識將讓我們能夠瞭解專業的研究文獻、自己執行量化的研究、有助於累積社會科學的知識，並充分發揮我們作為一位社會科學探索者的潛力。
儘管至關重要，但學習統計學可能是一大挑戰。社會科學領域（當然包括社會學）的統計學教室裡的學生的數學背景能力通常十分分歧，同樣的也有十分多樣化的生涯目標。學生常常不知道為何需要學習統計學，也常需要處理對數學的焦慮。本課程介紹了社會科學的統計分析，同時也想解決這些現實的問題。
這門課是以中間程度為教學目標，其目的是展示統計學對社會科學的價值與相關性。授課教師強調在社會科學研究的脈絡下解釋與理解統計資料，但並未犧牲全面性或統計的正確性。數學解釋保持在初階層次，這對初次接觸社會統計者而言是恰到好處。因此，課程規劃對數學能力作了最小的預設（閱讀簡單公式的能力），期待引導學生具備成功的分析資料的能力。
Statistics is part of the everyday language of sociology and other social sciences including political science, social work, public administration, criminal justice, urban studies, gerontology, etc. These disciplines are research-based and often use statistics to express knowledge and discuss theory and research. In order to participate in conversations across these disciplines, we must master the vocabulary of research, data analysis, and scientific thinking. Knowledge of statistics will allow us to understand the professional research literature, perform our own quantitative research, contribute to the accumulation of social science knowledge, and realize our full potential as a social science explorer.
Although crucial, learning statistics can be a challenge. Students in statistics classrooms in the social sciences (including, of course, sociology) often have very diverse backgrounds in mathematical abilities, as well as very diverse career goals. Students often don't know why they need to study statistics and often have to deal with anxiety about mathematics. This course introduces statistical analysis in the social sciences while also addressing these real-world problems.
This course is taught at the intermediate level and aims to demonstrate the value and relevance of statistics to the social sciences. Instructors emphasize interpreting and understanding statistical data in the context of social science research without sacrificing comprehensiveness or statistical correctness. Mathematical explanations are kept at an elementary level, which is just right for those new to social statistics. Therefore, the curriculum plan makes minimal assumptions about mathematical abilities (the ability to read simple formulas), hoping to guide students to have the ability to successfully analyze data.
Joseph F. Healey著；巫麗雪、翁志遠、張明宜譯，2023，《你一定要會的研究工具：社會統計(The essentials of statistics: a tool for social research）》(第四版)。臺北：巨流。
Written by Joseph F. Healey; translated by Wu Lixue, Weng Zhiyuan, and Zhang Mingyi, 2023, "The essentials of statistics: a tool for social research" (4th edition). Taipei: Juliu.
| 評分項目 Grading Method | 配分比例 Grading percentage | 說明 Description |
|---|---|---|
| 上課出席上課出席 Attend class |
10 | |
| 每週作業每週作業 weekly homework |
50 | |
| 期中小小考期中小小考 Midterm quiz |
5 | |
| 期末小小考期末小小考 Final quiz |
5 |
