Increasing Researcher Use of Large Scale Social Surveys in the Social Sciences through Teaching and Support
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: School of Social Sciences
Abstract
The use of quantitative methods is an integral part of the social science researcher toolkit. Knowledge of how to conduct basic quantitative analysis can enhance a study and complement other qualitative studies as well as being an aim in itself. However, the quantitative research capacity in many areas of social science is poor and needs to be strengthened, especially in the current age of targets and league tables that highlight the ubiquity of quantitative methods.
The aim of this project is to increase the capacity of UK researchers in Sociology and Criminology to use quantitative methods in both their teaching and research. Aimed at academics across the career lifecourse the activities will be available to social scientists at both the University of Southampton and in other academic establishments.
Many researchers do not use quantitative methods at all in their research and, by association, in their teaching as well. This breeds suspicion of these techniques in the students they are teaching as well as limiting the scope of research that can be conducted. This project will increase the capacity of researchers to conduct quantitative analysis through providing simple ways to teach quantitative methods, embedded within substantive courses. Learning about these methods outside of a normal quantitative course shows students how techniques can be applied, while the 'non-quantitative' instructor will learn these techniques through instruction themselves.
Teaching packs will be produced that can be used either off-the-shelf in other educational establishments, or modified to fit the learning outcomes of the specific module within which they will be used. These will consist of computer worksheets for the students, teaching notes for the instructor and further activities that can be completed to enhance the instruction. The focus of the packs will be on the analysis of large scale social surveys such as the British Crime Survey and the Labour Force Survey. These are resources that are underutilised and can provide answers to important questions about the way we work and the world around us.
In order to underpin these teaching packs, workshops that cover basic quantitative analysis of large scale social surveys will be given. One workshop will focus on the British Crime Survey, while the other on the Labour Force Survey. These will ensure that researchers who are using the teaching packs are fully confident in doing so. The workshops will also equip these researchers with the skills to conduct their own research or to move onto more advanced quantitative methods courses. During these workshops the researchers will be encouraged to work on their own research, with the support of the investigators on the project.
A final aspect is support for the researchers after the workshops are completed. Many courses rather abandon the participants after the teaching has finished, leaving the participants at a loss if they encounter any problems. A quantitative specialist will offer one-to-one support to those undertaking research using new methods and who have attended the workshops, as well as supporting researchers in the University of Southampton. From the workshops and the support a network of researchers who are using quantitative methods will be formed in order to give peer support.
Overall the project aims to increase the use of quantitative methods in both teaching and research, improving the skill level of interested researchers and helping, in a small way, reduce the skills gap in the social sciences with regard to statistics.
The aim of this project is to increase the capacity of UK researchers in Sociology and Criminology to use quantitative methods in both their teaching and research. Aimed at academics across the career lifecourse the activities will be available to social scientists at both the University of Southampton and in other academic establishments.
Many researchers do not use quantitative methods at all in their research and, by association, in their teaching as well. This breeds suspicion of these techniques in the students they are teaching as well as limiting the scope of research that can be conducted. This project will increase the capacity of researchers to conduct quantitative analysis through providing simple ways to teach quantitative methods, embedded within substantive courses. Learning about these methods outside of a normal quantitative course shows students how techniques can be applied, while the 'non-quantitative' instructor will learn these techniques through instruction themselves.
Teaching packs will be produced that can be used either off-the-shelf in other educational establishments, or modified to fit the learning outcomes of the specific module within which they will be used. These will consist of computer worksheets for the students, teaching notes for the instructor and further activities that can be completed to enhance the instruction. The focus of the packs will be on the analysis of large scale social surveys such as the British Crime Survey and the Labour Force Survey. These are resources that are underutilised and can provide answers to important questions about the way we work and the world around us.
In order to underpin these teaching packs, workshops that cover basic quantitative analysis of large scale social surveys will be given. One workshop will focus on the British Crime Survey, while the other on the Labour Force Survey. These will ensure that researchers who are using the teaching packs are fully confident in doing so. The workshops will also equip these researchers with the skills to conduct their own research or to move onto more advanced quantitative methods courses. During these workshops the researchers will be encouraged to work on their own research, with the support of the investigators on the project.
A final aspect is support for the researchers after the workshops are completed. Many courses rather abandon the participants after the teaching has finished, leaving the participants at a loss if they encounter any problems. A quantitative specialist will offer one-to-one support to those undertaking research using new methods and who have attended the workshops, as well as supporting researchers in the University of Southampton. From the workshops and the support a network of researchers who are using quantitative methods will be formed in order to give peer support.
Overall the project aims to increase the use of quantitative methods in both teaching and research, improving the skill level of interested researchers and helping, in a small way, reduce the skills gap in the social sciences with regard to statistics.
Planned Impact
This project has many beneficiaries, both in the short lifespan of the project as well as in the longer term.
In the short term the major beneficiaries will be the researchers who use the teaching packs to enhance their quantitative knowledge and who attend the workshops on the related topics. Their skill set will be enhanced and there will be extra opportunities in their studies to include quantitative methodologies either alongside their usual methods or instead of other research methods. This will improve the research offering and potentially enhance promotion efforts. For those who concentrate on teaching (rather than research) the enhanced modules that will be implemented will also have benefits for their academic practices and personal development.
Related to this, students in the various institutions will benefit from stronger faculty knowledge of quantitative methods. This will aid the development of those in these institutions who are interested in quantitative methods, as well as other students who benefit from the use of the teaching packs. This translates into better employment prospects for these students.
In the longer term the UK social science research community will benefit through having a broader range of research outputs, with quantitative and mixed methodologies being used in greater proportions. This will engender further studies using these methods due to the knock-on effect of researchers reading articles utilising different methods.
The improvement of quantitative methods provision through researchers having updated skills will aid the development of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of these methods, which in the longer term will benefit the UK academic community and the economy as a whole.
Academics within the social sciences will be interested in the success of the project as an indicator of the possibilities in improving methods knowledge. This constituency will learn about the project through the dissemination activities as well as through the researchers who participate. The ideas behind this project are transferable to other disciplines and this will be encouraged where possible.
In the short term the major beneficiaries will be the researchers who use the teaching packs to enhance their quantitative knowledge and who attend the workshops on the related topics. Their skill set will be enhanced and there will be extra opportunities in their studies to include quantitative methodologies either alongside their usual methods or instead of other research methods. This will improve the research offering and potentially enhance promotion efforts. For those who concentrate on teaching (rather than research) the enhanced modules that will be implemented will also have benefits for their academic practices and personal development.
Related to this, students in the various institutions will benefit from stronger faculty knowledge of quantitative methods. This will aid the development of those in these institutions who are interested in quantitative methods, as well as other students who benefit from the use of the teaching packs. This translates into better employment prospects for these students.
In the longer term the UK social science research community will benefit through having a broader range of research outputs, with quantitative and mixed methodologies being used in greater proportions. This will engender further studies using these methods due to the knock-on effect of researchers reading articles utilising different methods.
The improvement of quantitative methods provision through researchers having updated skills will aid the development of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of these methods, which in the longer term will benefit the UK academic community and the economy as a whole.
Academics within the social sciences will be interested in the success of the project as an indicator of the possibilities in improving methods knowledge. This constituency will learn about the project through the dissemination activities as well as through the researchers who participate. The ideas behind this project are transferable to other disciplines and this will be encouraged where possible.
Organisations
| Description | The project aimed to create a resource for researchers in the UK and beyond to engage with and learn about quantitative methods, without requiring statistical theory courses to be taken first. This aimed to generate interest in the potential outputs from quantitative methods by the researchers and encourage use to UK datasets. In initial discussions with potential users of these resources to be generate it was clear that the ability to 'learn through doing' was a key priority - so rather than a dry statistics course with limited applicability in the real world, the ability to download real datasets and analyse them was preferred. This would allow the researchers to see that the methods could produce worthwhile answers to research questions without a long lead-in time. Formal quantitative understanding could be achieved at a later date if the use of the methods were seen to be worthwhile. It was decided to develop an online multi-platform resource for use by researchers and students for quantitative methods. This consists of a website (www.southampton.ac.uk/passs) which highlights four different research questions to work through as examples of what can be done using basic quantitative methods. These research questions are similar to those covered in a sister project, also funded by the ESRC, which embedded quantitative methods in two undergraduate courses. The research topics used were related to criminology (confidence in the police and neighbourhood policing awareness) and sociology/education (inequalities in GCSE score and enrolment in full time education). Using SPSS as the programme to use (it is also aimed to put Stata instructions on the website) researchers who would like to investigate these issues are taken through a number of steps, which should be replicated when conducting their own research. These include univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses. Each research question ends through using multiple regression - either linear or logistic, to assess the relationships between explanatory variables and the outcomes. The website is supported by word documents that can be downloaded to work on offline, as well as a whole suite of YouTube videos going through the techniques required to conduct the methods in SPSS. These have been used a large amount - even without a large amount of publicity. As of November 2014 the most popular clip, relating to linear regression with categorical variables, have been seen almost 1500 times. A key element of this project was the use of 'real' data - not only data that has been generated to give simple answers. Using already manipulated data does not teach skills that are needed to conduct research on your own. Using two datasets from the UK Data Service this project teaches data manipulation skills too - ensuring that researchers register with this service first. This is a clear success of the project. Due to technical issues the website has not been publicised as widely as it can be. With extra functionality added and publicity about this being pushed further it is envisaged that this is a resource that researchers can return to improve their quantitative literacy. |
| Exploitation Route | The main findings of this project is that it is possible to show researchers and students that it is possible to conduct quite advanced quantitative methods without having to have an in depth knowledge of statistical theory in order to produce research results which are of substantive interest. Engagement with the data encourages researchers to investigate further the research methodologies. Furthermore, the use of real, unsimplified, data is important to generate the skills required to use data. These two findings can be used further in education when training the next generation of researchers. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | The project developed a number of different resources for researchers to use, focused around a website, Practical Applications of Statistics in the Social Sciences (www.southampton.ac.uk/passs). This website contains a step by step guide for researchers (and students) to follow in order to explore the application of a variety of quantitative methods to different societal issues. These include trust in the police, attitude towards neighbourhood policing, inequalities in educational attainment and destinations of school leavers. These guides are linked to a series of youtube recordings which take individuals through how to complete the methods on SPSS. The impact of this project is difficult to quantify as most of the visitors to the site are anonymous and it is impossible to measure engagement with the different elements. Feedback given by researchers within the University of Southampton indicate that it is a useful resource to refer to, although it is not comprehensive in all elements. Further, relating the research questions used in the examples to the questions that the researchers are interested in has proved difficult. However, clear impact has been made by the youtube recordings. A channel has been set up collating all recordings, which has 88 subscribers. Certain videos are very popular, with one, about logistic regression, having over 17,000 views. This indicates that there is impact of the project, although not in the original manner expected. It appears that the way that methods training is consumed now is not in a linear fashion, but using a variety of sources as and when is needed. The use of the resources through youtube will be harnessed through further videos being produced, with the website being used as a central hub for resources about the Southampton Q-Step Affiliate, ensuring longevity and further impact through the training of future graduates of social sciences in the UK who are able to use quantitative techniques. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Economic |