The Research Design Basis for Undergraduate Quantitative Methods (QM) Teaching

This project will show QM trainers how to encourage social science undergraduates (UGs) in many subject areas to engage with, use and re-use numeric evidence both wisely and appropriately. The project has assembled a team of international design experts to work with a large number of UG social science methods trainers in seven major UK universities. Together they will all prepare template course materials that link research designs to methods of quantitative data collection and analysis, and adapt these templates for use in their own subject areas. In this way, research design can be embedded in the teaching of undergraduate quantitative methods, through provision of training for current and future providers. The renewed emphasis on design at the outset of a study, currently rather neglected in UK researcher development, will have a number of immediate and longer-term benefits. It discourages schismic thinking among UGs since designs are largely independent of specific methods of data collection. It encourages true prediction and forethought in collecting data for new studies. It encourages the correct choice of methods of analysis for data that have already been collected. Above all, it holds the promise of simplifying analysis to such an extent that undergraduates may not even be aware that they are, in fact, working with 'quantitative' methods.

The applicants and their team of experts and hosts are internationally-renowned methods experts who specialise in QM design, as well as being professionally-recognised and lauded adult educators. This combined expertise, together with the close engagement of trainers in QM in undergraduate teaching, will fill a major gap in UK social science QM teaching. International experts will prepare a wide range of resources and materials to show how design naturally and easily underpins the teaching of QM, accessible to undergraduates across all areas of social science. Although the focus will be on undergraduate teaching, we will build into our programme of events a progression from introductory through intermediate and to advanced training in order to up-skill QM teachers in the embedding of design at all levels. This will enable a step-change in teaching at undergraduate level and even beyond. The work programme of up-skilling of research methods trainers includes the creation of support and curricular materials tailored to all relevant areas, sustained collaborative development of materials and approaches, and delivery of intensive clinics UK-wide. THe materials will be trialled in practice in social science UG teaching among the seven HEIs involved, and ideally more widely by the end of the project. The project is led by the College of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham. It will be delivered in co-operation with the Universities of Cardiff, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Warwick and York, and will involve experts from US Northwestern University.

To a large extent the immediate impact of this project, as part of the QM intitiative and RDI, will be on academic beneficaries (as described elsewhere). Those academics who are or will be responsible for delivery of lectures on social science research and methods should gain something from participation in or use of materials from this project. It is, as explained elsewhere, using the approach of design as a kind of Trojan horse to get more trainers to engage with QM teaching, and to help more students find enthusiasm for, and the relevance of, QM in their studies. The applicants are trained and experienced teachers at UG and adult edcuation level, lauded in official inspections, and with dozens of successful methods teaching texts and textbooks to their name, and whose work forms the entire basis of some methods courses in other HEIs across the world. The latter is largely due to their ability to make the complex seem simple and relevant to all UGs. The impact on trainers will be estimated via attendance, repeat 'business', website hits and downloads, evaluation forms and by a small-scale observed test of the new teaching approaches in action in a rela-life setting with UGs.

An indirect outcome of the proejct would be an increase in the supply of graduates, taught by the trainers who are the key focus of this project, for roles beyond the academic. It will not be possible to evaluate such longer term outcomes within the life of the project. We therefore rely on the opinion of those working in industry, policy or practice who are looking to recruit numerate analyticl graduates in the social sciences, such as the two nomiated user reviewers of this project.

Impact through World Class Research: The initiative will deliver a cohort of trainers across many areas of social sciencee, able to better assist budding researchers and analysts to achieve their potential. Design is a major gap in existing methods training, and essential for the contemporary and global policy environment.

Impact through Skilled People: The initiative addresses a significant cross-sectoral skill gap through a variety of mechanisms. It creates collaborative partnerships between researchers/academics at different stages of their careers. The community emerging from these collaborations will improve the prospects for skill transferability, employability and inter-sectoral exchanges of skilled people, thus improving flexibility and adaptability.

Impact through Infrastructure: The initiative will significantly enhance the pool of skills among research mmethods trainers in relation to the integration of methods in an overall research design of strong scientific credibility, and assist the use of large scale data sets now becoming available through the radical transparency agenda.

Impact through International Leadership: The involvement of leading international scholars is a major component of the initiative's profile. Engaging these contributors consolidates existing relationships and opens the way for long-term future research collaborations on the theory and application of rigorous evaluations.

Impact through Partnerships: Intrinsic to the operation of the initiative will be the creation of partnerships between eight US and UK universities from the outset, and it is hoped and expected that this number will grow as part of the planned cascade. These networks and partnerships will be in place for future research, and for the career development of up-and-coming methods experts.