History by numbers - Pat Hudson

Quantitative history is an essential part of the wider armoury of historical methods. Pat Hudson emphasises the similarities between quantitative and qualitative approaches and their joint value in reconstructing the past. She explores the historian's problems in gathering reliable evidence and making decisions about suitable techniques, judging the acceptability of the results, and moving towards their interpretation. Various methods used in the display and analysis of data are clearly explained from the formation of figures, graphs, and tables to time series analysis, correlation and regression, sampling theory and practice, and econometric techniques. Computer-aided techniques are surveyed and there is an assessment of the impact of computers on research.



The style is clear and inviting and the book assumes no prior statistical knowledge. Its problem-solving approach, drawing on current historical research in social, economic, and political history, demystifies quantitative skills and makes them accessible even to those unconfident about their aptitud for numbers.