Postgraduate Course: Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Skills for Science Communication, Public Engagement and Informal Learning (BIME11201)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Biomedical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Initially, the course provides a background to social science research including research design and ethics. Then the focus will be on quantitative research methods including sampling, data gathering methods and data analysis including secondary data analysis. The course will then explore basic methods for data analysis and software packages. We finish by exploring mixed methods. The course is designed for students who have little or no experience in quantitative social research methods. |
| Course description |
The first part of the course is intended to introduce students to the practices of social research, including the idea of research design. We explore cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs and case study research and explore how to plan a research project. We look at the importance of the literature review, of developing research questions and the ethical considerations when conducting social research.
Students will then move on to learning about quantitative research methods.
We will explore the nature of quantitative research, whether all social phenomena are appropriate for quantitative research methods.
We will look at sampling and what we can infer from a sample selection. We then move on to data collection methods and explore these as practical exercises in class i.e. questionnaires, structured interviewing, structured observation, quantitative content analysis and secondary data analysis.
We focus on exploratory and descriptive data analysis then statistical tests.
We explore tools which are available for quantitative data analysis including software packages such as Microsoft Excel and SPSS. We study methods of analysis and how to interpret and present findings.
The course will then explore the use of a 'mixed methods' approach i.e. combining quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Students will critically analyse examples of research projects before progressing to using data to develop appropriate research methods to analyse the data.
The emphasis is on learning and understanding by doing, using 'real' data and practice in class. The aim of the course is to ensure that students understand basic quantitative method and how to combine them with qualitative methods when appropriate.
The material covered on the course will help students develop a critical understanding of why quantitative analysis can be useful within the social sciences (and in particular for science communication, public engagement and informal learning topics) the pitfalls associated with quantitative analysis and provide an introduction to the key analytical techniques used in published social science research.
Learning will be facilitated through a mixture of formative and summative tasks.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Interim assessment: 30%
Initial research plan: including research questions, data selection and sampling, research methods to be utilised for a topic chosen from a range of topics provided by Course Organiser.
Final assessment: 70%
Essay which provides a justification of choices for above.
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| Feedback |
Students will receive formative feedback in seminars and for practical, non-assessed exercises.
Students will receive summative feedback for the mid-course and end of course assignments.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will be able to identify and critically analyse and discuss the appropriateness, strengths and limitations of a range of quantitative research methods and mixed methods as applied to their field of study
- Students will have a critical understanding of best practices in quantitative data generation, including different sampling approaches, elicitation methods and data sources.
- Students will have an understanding of the analysis and interpretation of quantitative data and will be able to confidently use different analytical techniques, identifying which method is most appropriate for different research questions.
- Students will be able to competently report, visualise and discuss quantitative and mixed methods results.
- Students will be able to identify ethical considerations and assess quality when designing, conducting, presenting and discussing quantitative and mixed methods research.
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Reading List
Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures (Blair et al. 2014)
Surveys in Social Research (De Vaus 2013).
Statistics for Social Scientists (Foster et al. 2014),
An Introduction to Secondary Data Analysis (MacInnes 2017), Critical Statistics: Seeing Beyond the Headlines (De Vries 2018)
SAGE Handbook of Quantitative Methodology for the Social Sciences (Kaplan 2004)
Social Science Research, International Journal of Social Research Methodology
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical thinking, research design, data analysis, data reporting and presentation interview and questionnaire skills, creative problem solvers and researchers. |
| Keywords | mixed methods,quantitative data collection,analysis and reporting.,quantitative research methods |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Elizabeth Stevenson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3258
Email: E.Stevenson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Shaw
Tel: (0131 6)50 8349
Email: K.Shaw@ed.ac.uk |
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