Analysis Techniques for non-Experimental Data: An Introduction

Analysis Techniques for non-Experimental Data: An Introduction discusses five different quasi-experimental study designs: propensity score matching, instrumental variables, the regression discontinuity design, fixed effects models, and trajectory analysis. The book starts with a short refresher of regression analysis. Next, the five analysis techniques are discussed relatively briefly and conceptually, with a minimum of formulas. Each technique is also illustrated with a worked example on a fictitious dataset. For all analyses, the complete syntax for both SPSS and Stata is given in order that readers can replicate the examples and use the syntax as a starting point for their own analyses. Although most of the book’s examples are criminological, the techniques can be applied in many other disciplines such as sociology, psychology, demography, and political science.