This text examines basic statistics, from univariate statistics through multiple regression, without the formal proofs commonly presented in pure statistics texts. It incorporates the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software used at almost all academic institutions to perform statistical calculations. The text reminds readers how and why statistics are used in the social sciences to answer research questions. Thus, each chapter begins with a possible research question, examines the statistics that might answer it, reviews the SPSS commands used to produce the statistics, and then reflects on interpretations of the output to answer the research question. Examples are drawn from the 1988 General Social Survey and the 1988 American National Election Study. Condensed versions of each data set are distributed for student practice.