Students studying statistics for the first time can often feel confused, disoriented, and lacking direction. Understanding Social Statistics is a text crafted with this reality in mind, that many students feel lost and frustrated when studying statistics-much like being in a maze.

USS acts as both a map and toolkit for navigating the maze of social statistics successfully. At every point in each chapter, students will have a clear idea of where they are and in which direction they are headed. A 5-step learning model applied to each theoretical concept ensures that readers have a predictable and reliable method for approaching every statistical situation they encounter-by working their way through the 5 steps, readers are guaranteed a way forward. Along the way they will collect all the tools they need to perform statistical analysis and learn to use them competently.

Using maps and tools effectively requires practice, which is another key element of USS.

Steps 2 (Learning the Calculations) and 3 (Using Computer Software) in the 5-step learning model provide ample opportunity for students to put learning into practice with sample problems and exercises. In addition, a complement of supportive text pedagogy and ancillary material (including detailed descriptions of the steps involved in arriving at the answers to the text's practice and sample problems) underscore the authors' commitment to providing a practical, easy-to-understand, and effective way to learn social statistics.