Social Statistics

Part 1 Introduction to Research Methods

When students complete the topics in Part 1, they will be able to:

1. Describe the difference between research and everyday approaches to knowledge.
2. Define empirical and interpretive approaches to research.
3. Identify common causes of bias and approaches that researchers take to reduce bias when studying people.
4. Contrast inductive and deductive approaches to theory.
5. Identify the key differences between qualitative and quantitative research.
6. Describe at least one historical study that led to ethics rules and reviews.
7. List and define the three primary ethical principles of human subjects research and provide an application for each.

Part 2 Reading, Reviewing, and Citing Literature

When students complete the topics in Part 2, they will be able to:

1. Locate relevant databases to search the academic literature.
2. Differentiate between types of articles in the literature.
3. Identify differences between an annotated bibliography and a literature review.
4. Use Boolean searches to identify articles appropriate for use in a literature review.
5. Select and evaluate literature, manage references, and take notes on sources.
6. Use academic literature to identify and define key concepts and measures relevant to your research.
Explain the differences between an abstract, an annotated bibliography, and a literature review.
7. Show the relevance of a research problem in terms of the academic literature on the subject

Part 3 Basic Concepts in Quantitative Research

When students complete the topics in Part 3, they will be able to:

1. Describe the difference between a concept and a variable.
2. Define categorical and continuous variables, and list the important characteristics for each category within these variable types.
3. Define dependent and independent variables.
4. Explain what a confounding variable is and provide examples of common confounding scenarios.
5. Identify techniques that researchers use to minimize confounding effects.
6. Explain what it means to operationalize a variable.
7. Explain what a Likert scale is and how this scale is used when creating a composite variable.
8. Contrast performance tests with norm-referenced tests and provide an example of each.
9. Define a directional and nondirectional hypothesis and provide an example.
10. Explain the relationship between the null hypothesis and statistical significance.
11. Write a research hypothesis and a null hypothesis.
12. Describe the relationship between a quantitative research question, null hypothesis, and research hypothesis.

Part 4 Designing Quantitative Research

When students complete the topics in Part 4, they will be able to:

1. Describe the types of questions that match a quantitative research design.
2. Identify and define three types of nonexperimental quantitative research.
3. Contrast cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches.
4. Describe the benefits and potential pitfalls of using surveys.
5. Explain the qualities of well-written survey questions.
6. Describe the benefits and potential downsides when using existing data.
7. Describe the benefits and limitations of using experimental designs.
8. Identify the defining characteristics of classical experimental design and describe two variations on this design
9. Provide at least one reason why each experimental design variation may be selected.
10. Identify the difficulties with making causal claims.

Part 5 Assessing Research Quality: Validity and Reliability

When students complete the topics in Part 5, they will be able to:

1. Define and contrast validity and reliability.
2. Describe four types of validity.
3. Describe three methods for assessing validity.
4. Describe three ways of assessing reliability.
5. Define the meaning and purpose of a correlation coefficient and its role in assessing validity.
6. Explain the relationship between validity and reliability when assessing research quality.
7. Define internal validity and explain the main threats to internal validity in experimental research.
8. Explain and give examples of interactions between threats to internal validity.
9. Define external validity and explain the main threats to external validity in experimental research.

Part 6 Sampling for Quantitative Research

When students complete the topics in Part 6, they will be able to:

1. Define sample and population and explain the different between them.
2. Identify common biases that affect sample quality.
3. Explain the difference between probability and nonprobability sampling and when each is appropriate.
4. Describe the four main methods for random selection in probability sampling.
5. Identify characteristics that help a researcher identify the type of probability sample to use.
6. Identify the four main types of nonprobability sampling and their uses.
7. Describe an improvement and a challenge in modern sampling.
8. Describe why researchers collect demographic information.
9. Explain why bias is more important than sample size.
10. Describe the significance of sample size for data quality

Part 7 Analyzing Quantitative Data

When students complete the topics in Part 7, they will be able to:

1. Define descriptive and inferential statistics and provide an example of a statistic for each.
2. Explain the meaning within statistics of the terms univariate, bivariate, and multivariate.
3. Explain the three measures of central tendency, two measures of dispersion, and two graphical representations of central tendency and dispersion.
4. Describe implications of sample size for statistical outcomes.
5. Explain the purpose and the unique uses of cross tabulation and correlation.
6. Describe the components of significance testing, including the roles of the null hypothesis, alpha, and p-values.
7. Identify the relationships between statistical tests and variable types.
8. Identify three tests for comparing groups, including their similarities, differences, variations, and methods for identifying significance.
9. Describe three important characteristics of normal distribution.
10. Define Type I and Type II errors and describe their significance in hypothesis testing.
11. Explain what an effect size statistic is and identify examples of effect size statistics.
12. Name the five considerations when determining practical significance.

Part 8 Qualitative Research

When students complete the topics in Part 8, they will be able to:

1. Describe the types of research questions that are suitable for a qualitative research approach.
2. Identify types of interviews and name the most common form of interviewing in social science research methods.
3. Describe the three main types of qualitative data collection.
4. Describe factors researchers consider when they collect qualitative data.
5. Identify two common approaches to qualitative data analysis.
6. Describe three approaches to sampling for qualitative research.
7. Describe when to use case study research.
8. Describe trustworthiness and consistency as they relate to assessing the quality of qualitative research.
9. Explain the concept of triangulation and describe three types of triangulation used by qualitative researchers.
10. Describe the steps and types of coding recommended for analyzing qualitative data.
11. Define mixed-methods research and its primary design variations using the appropriate terminology.

Part 9 Writing About Research

When students complete the topics in Part 9, they will be able to:

1. Identify the importance of your research topic.
2. Situate your study within the academic conversation about the topic.
3. Account for each key decision you made in conducting your study.
4. Describe the results you obtained.
5. Discuss your results in relation to the literature and any hypotheses you may have had.
6. Disclose and explain the limitations of your study.
7. Suggest future research on the topic.
8. Consider the implications of your results for how we understand your topic.
9. Format citations and references in at least one appropriate academic style.

Learning Objectives