Can’t Count or Won’t Count? Embedding Quantitative Methods in Substantive Sociology Curricula: A Quasi-Experiment

Abstract

This paper reports on a quasi-experiment in which quantitative methods (QM) are embedded within a substantive sociology module. Through measuring student attitudes before and after the intervention alongside control group comparisons, we illustrate the impact that embedding has on the student experience. Our findings are complex and even contradictory. Whilst the experimental group were less likely to be distrustful of statistics and appreciate how QM inform social research, they were also less confident about their statistical abilities, suggesting that through ‘doing’ quantitative sociology the experimental group are exposed to the intricacies of method and their optimism about their own abilities is challenged. We conclude that embedding QM in a single substantive module is not a ‘magic bullet’ and that a wider programme of content and assessment diversification across the curriculum is preferential.

Hard to teach: inclusive pedagogy in social science research methods education

“…For teachers, challenges are exacerbated by the lack of pedagogic culture and curriculum (Earley 2014). The challenge of the perceived fear among learners of methods, especially in statistics (Ralston et al 2016), has led to a deficit discourse in which learners are positioned as ill-prepared and fearful, then blamed for being hard to teach (Williams et al 2016). This echoes somewhat the school-based 'pervasive deficit discourses' that Comber and Kamler (2004, 293) describe as remaining 'dominant in classrooms and staffrooms … reproduced in student files, educational journals and conferences and reported as fact in media coverage'.…”

A new application for the concept of pedagogical content knowledge: teaching advanced social science research methods

“…In the arena of research methods education and training there has been concern that the pedagogical culture is particularly underdeveloped (Wagner et al, 2011) in that there has been little research, debate or dialogue to inform pedagogic development. There are suggestions too that teachers in HE teach as they were taught (Oleson & Hora, 2014) and that learners of research methods are anxious and fearful (Ralston et al, 2016;Williams et al, 2016). There are, however, accounts of research methods educators refining their practice and exposing their decision-making to public scrutiny (see for example the special issues of International Journal of Research and Method in Education and International Journal of Social Research Methodology on this topic).…”

Predicting education science students’ statistics anxiety: The role of prior experiences within a framework of domain-specific motivation constructs

“…In particular, they should offer detailed indications and practical training projects to make comprehensible how empirical analyses and quantitative procedures can help to describe, explain, and modify developmental, academic and vocational, or organizational phenomena in a certain educational setting students will probably encounter-such as concerning their professional decision of appropriate treatments, their perspectives to optimize social structures, and their supportive strategies to enhance individual or collective developments. In that regard, such teaching efforts should not only concern relevant method courses, they should also strive for a close linkage between methodological and substantive contents in other courses of a program (Adriaensen, Coremans, & Kerremans, 2014;M. Williams et al, 2016).…”