This will provide an introduction to the basic approaches to exploratory data analysis mainly looking at categorical variables (the variables most often found in questionnaire/survey data). No prior knowledge of statistics is assumed although you will require a basic knowledge of using SPSS and/or other statistical software packages e.g. knowledge gained from the above ‘Introductory SPSS’ course. The course uses sample data from the sciences and social sciences fields but the application is relevant to all subject areas. It covers: ways of exploring variable distributions using tables and charts; use of cross- tabulation and the use of control variables to explore the relationship between categorical variables, chi-squared test & other tests, techniques for recoding and deriving new variables; odds ratios & relative risks, the use of weighting where appropriate. This course is taught by an experienced statistician – advice can be sought during the course for specific research/statistics queries. (It is not advised that this course should be taken together with the Basic Statistics Course as there is much overlapping material)