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12/06/20 Social Research Methods | University of Kent
Social Research Methods View Online
202 items
Basic Texts (4 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Suggested for student purchase | This is essential reading. It is comprehensive
and relatively easy to use (having a very good index) and covers all the topics andresearch methods addressed in this module (although it is a bit light on visual methods). Itcontains instructions for the basic functions in using SPSS for quantitative analysis.
Researching social life - 2015Book | Suggested for student purchase | This is essential reading. We have chosen
chapters from this book for most weeks so if you do want to by a text think of this, and/ orBryman.
The basics of social research - Earl R. Babbie, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | This is an accessible introduction to most of the topics
covered during the module, but Bryman (2008) offers better value for money. This bookalso has a useful online learning site.
Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Core (Must Read) | Useful when developing your final project.
Supplementary Texts (10 items)
Methods of discovery: heuristics for the social sciences - Abbott, Andrew Delano, 2004Book
Qualitative inquiry & research design: choosing among five approaches - John W. Creswell,2013
Book
Designing surveys: a guide to decisions and procedures - Czaja, Ronald, Blair, Johnny,2005
Book
Ethnography: principles in practice - Hammersley, Martyn, Atkinson, Paul, 2007Book
The practice of qualitative research - Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber, Patricia Leavy, c2011Book
Designing social inquiry: scientific inference in qualitative research - King, Gary, Keohane,
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Robert O., Verba, Sidney, 1994Book
Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything - Levitt, StevenD., Dubner, Stephen J., 2006
Book
Documents of life 2: an invitation to a critical humanism - Plummer, Kenneth, 2001Book
The comparative method: moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies - Ragin,Charles C., c1987
Book
Essentials of research methods: a guide to social research - Ruane, Janet M., 2005Book
Web Resources (15 items)
Referencing (1 items)
Referencing Style Guides - Academic Integrity - University of KentWebpage
Journal Articles (2 items)
Journals - Library Services Online resources - University of KentWebpage
Indexing services - Library Services Online resources - University of KentWebpage
Websites (2 items)
Social Research MethodsWebsite
Free Resources for Program Evaluation and Social Research MethodsWebpage
Data for Secondary Analysis (10 items)
UK Data Archive - HOMEWebsite | including nearly all of the major surveys used by Government departments
UK Data Service » NesstarWebpage | We’ll put a guide to using Nesstar up on the Moodle page, and in we’ll do a
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worked example of using it.
EDAC : HomeWebsite | EDACwowe doesn’t hold any data (unlike the UK Data Archive), but it makes it
very easy to find the data you want.
Eurostat HomeWebpage
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentWebpage | both of which provide data on public spending, health, family structures and
more besides.
Full Fact | Promoting accuracy in public debateWebsite | There are several blogs that provide interesting, clear scrutiny of the statistics
that are making headlines – even if you’re not using these in your own research, they’re agreat way of telling apart truth from lies in political debate. The best is FullFact
BBC Radio 4 - More or LessWebpage | More or Less on Radio 4 does the same, but also combines this with titbits
about the most exciting sociological research around
Freakonomics BlogWebpage
SignificanceJournal
Bad ScienceWebsite
Week 1 - Introduction to Social Research (3 items)
Required Reading (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | (LECTURE) Guide to the book pages xxviii-xxxiii, plus
chapters 1 and 2
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | ( SEMINAR) (Guide to the book: pages xxviii- xxxiii; plus
Chapters 1 & 2)
Recommended Reading (1 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chaps 1 and 2
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Week 2 – Literature Review & Research Question (9 items)
Required reading (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 4: Getting Started: reviewing the literature
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 4: Searching and reviewing the literature
Recommended Reading (6 items)
Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Useful when developing your final project;
Chapter 2: Information and how to deal with it
Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Useful when developing your final project;
Chapter 2: Information and how to deal with it
Interpreting qualitative data - David Silverman, 2011Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Sage, Chapter 2: Designing a Research Project,
especially section 2.5 ‘An effective literature review’
The literature review: a step-by-step guide for students - Diana Ridley, 2012Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Doing a successful research project: using qualitative or quantitative methods - MartinDavies, Nathan Hughes, 2014
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 3
In addition take a look at books and journal articles to understand the role the literaturereview plays in academic research. You might also look at review articles in journals,especially in dedicated journals like Sociology Compass
Seminar TaskYou will be expected to bring an example of a literature review to the seminar. Think inadvance about what is good and what is problematic about the piece.
Week 3 – Ethics of Social Research (9 items)
Required Reading: (2 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter
8: The Ethics of Social Research.
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 6: Ethics and politics in social research
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Core materials: (1 items)
Ethical Clearance Materialshttps://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/local/research/index.html?tab=ethics Data Protection Acthttp://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/the_basics.aspx
Other recommended reading: (5 items)
Managing anonymity and confidentiality in social research: the case of visual data inCommunity research
Webpage | Recommended (Should Read)
Ethnography: principles in practice - Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 10
Editorial - 2002-01Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Ethnography: principles in practice - Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 10
Wiles, R., Heath, S., Crow, G. and Charles, V. (2005) Informed consent in Social Research:A literature review. Economic and Social Research Council. Available online:http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/85/1/MethodsReviewPaperNCRM-001.pdf
Seminar Task To critically evaluate an ethics form that you will be given in class
Week 4 - The Art of Interviewing (19 items)
Required Reading (lecture) (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapters 20 and 21 – Interviewing in Qualitative Research;
Focus Groups
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chaps: 12 and 13
Required Reading (seminar) (3 items)
Working: people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do -Studs Terkel, c2004
Book | Core (Must Read) | Especially introduction.
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The weight of the world: social suffering in contemporary society - Pierre Bourdieu, AlainAccardo, 1999
Book | Core (Must Read) | Pages 604-626
Introduction: Sociology as a Listener's ArtChapter | Core (Must Read)
General Reading (13 items)
The Good Research Guide - Martyn Denscombe, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 10
Researching social life - 2015Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chap 2
The Sage handbook of interview research: the complexity of the craft - c2012Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Approaches to qualitative research: a reader on theory and practice - Hesse-Biber,Sharlene Nagy, Leavy, Patricia, 2004
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapters 9 and 13
The practice of qualitative research: engaging students in the research process - SharleneNagy Hesse-Biber, 2017
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapters 4-6
Interviews: learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing - Svend Brinkmann,Steinar Kvale, 2015
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The oral history reader - 2016Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Especially part 2 'interviewing'
Documents of life 2: an invitation to a critical humanism - Kenneth Plummer, 2001Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Especially chapters 6-8
The Myths we live by - Samuel, Raphael, Thompson, Paul Richard, International OralHistory Conference on "Myth and History", 1990
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Especially introduction
Theory and methods in social research - Bridget Somekh, Cathy Lewin, 2011Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 4
Commonality, Difference, and the Dynamics of Disclosure In-depth Interviewing - Song M.and Parker, D, 1995
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Working: people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do -Studs Terkel, c2004
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Especially Introduction
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The voice of the past: oral history - Paul Thompson, 2000Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Seminar TaskTask One: In groups of three carry out a very short interview where one student is theinterviewee, one the interviewer and the third observes the interaction. In 10 minutes tryand find out as much as you can about their educational background. Spend a further 10minutes collectively reflecting on what was going on in the interview.Task Two: You will be given a short passage from an interview and you will be expected toidentify important themes, issues and other features you notice. What sort of interviewwas this? What was the role of the interviewee? What was the role of the interviewer?
Week 5 – Reading weekNo lecture or seminar but there is a clear expectation that students will catch up on anyreading they may have missed in previous weeks and that they prepare for forthcomingweeks.
Week 6 – Qualitative Analysis- Content Analysis (9 items)
Required Reading (8 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Lecture Chapter 24
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapters 21-23
Working: people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do -Studs Terkel, c2004
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The weight of the world: social suffering in contemporary society - Pierre Bourdieu, PriscillaParkhurst Ferguson, Susan Emanuel, E. Joe Johnson, Shoggy T. Waryn, 1999
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The art of listening - Les Back, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The oral history reader - 2016Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Documents of life 2: an invitation to a critical humanism - Kenneth Plummer, 2001Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The Myths we live by - Raphael Samuel, Paul Richard Thompson, International Oral HistoryConference on "Myth and History", 1990
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
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Seminar task:
You will be given examples of qualitative analysis and discuss why particular analysismethods have been chosen, and evaluate them.
Week 7 – Visual Methods (20 items)
Required reading (5 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 23
Visual sociology: Expanding sociological vision - Douglas Harper, 1988-3Article | Core (Must Read)
Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers - Jon Prosser, Dawsonera,1998
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | An Argument for Visual Sociology
Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers - Jon Prosser, Dawsonera,1998
Book | Core (Must Read) | An Argument for Visual Sociology
Visual methodologies: an introduction to researching with visual materials - Gillian Rose,2016
Book | Core (Must Read) | Especially Chapter 1.
Supplementary Reading (14 items)
Approaches to understanding visual culture - Malcolm Barnard, 2001Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Ways of seeing - John Berger, 2008Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Eyewitnessing: the uses of images as historical evidence - Peter Burke, 2006Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Eyewitnessing: the uses of images as historical evidence - Peter Burke, 2006Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Sociology and visual representation - Elizabeth Chaplin, 1994Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Sociology and visual representation - Elizabeth Chaplin, 1994Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Meaning and Work: A Study in Photo Elicitation - D. Harper, 1986-09-01Article | Recommended (Should Read)
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Theory and Practice of Visual Sociology - L Henny,, 1986Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Handbook of visual analysis - Theo Van Leeuwen, Carey Jewitt, 2001Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers - Jon Prosser, Dawsonera,1998
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Theatres of memory: Vol. 1: Past and present in contemporary culture - Raphael Samuel,1999
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | (Part 5).
On photography - Susan Sontag, 2008Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Sebastiao Salgado and Fine Art Photojournalism - J Stallabrass,, 1997Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Ways of (not) Seeing Work: The Visual As a Blind Spot in WES? - Tim Strangleman,2004-03-01
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Seminar Task
You will be given one of a number of photographs or other visual images. Your task is to, inturn, describe, analyse and critique an image. Try to reflect on how these might aid socialresearch and what problems they might present. Students are encouraged to bring inimages that have particular social meaning to them and be prepared to reflect on them ingroup practice.
Week 8– Qualitative Analysis - Visual Methods (4 items)
Required reading: (4 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Lecture Chapters 21-23
‘Visual Culture; Expanding Sociological Vision’ - D HarperArticle | Core (Must Read)
An Argument for Visual Sociology - D HarperChapter | Core (Must Read)
Visual methodologies: an introduction to researching with visual materials - Gillian Rose,2016
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
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Week 9 – Ethnographic Methods (15 items)
Required reading (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 19: Ethnography and participant observation
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 14
Recommended Reading (13 items)
Ethnography: principles in practice - Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson, 2007Book | Core (Must Read)
Ethnography: principles in practice - Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Analyzing social settings: a guide to qualitative observation and analysis - John Lofland,c2006
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Feminist methods in social research - Shulamit Reinharz, Lynn Davidman, 1992Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 3
Examples of ethnographic research:
In search of respect: selling crack in El Barrio - Philippe I. Bourgois, 2003Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Ethnography at the edge: crime, deviance, and field research - 1998Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The company she keeps: an ethnography of girls' friendships - Valerie Hey, 1997Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Sexed work: gender, race and resistance in a Brooklyn drug market - Lisa Maher, c1997Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Hustlers, beats, and others - Ned Polsky, 2007Book | Recommended (Should Read) | [Chapter on research method, morality and
criminology]
Ethnographic research: a reader - Stephanie Taylor, Open University, 2002Book | Recommended (Should Read) | [many examples of ethnographic research]
Gang leader for a day: a rogue sociologist takes to the streets - Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh,2008
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
See also the journal Ethnography, available from the Library and online journals.
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Week10 - Qualitative Analysis -Documents, Archives & Social Research(8 items)
Required reading (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 23, ‘Documents as sources of data’
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 15
Other recommended reading: (5 items)
Documents of life 2: an invitation to a critical humanism - Kenneth Plummer, 2001Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Especially chapters1-3.
Theatres of memory: Vol. 1: Past and present in contemporary culture - Raphael Samuel,1999
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Introduction, and Part One.
Material culture and mass consumption - Daniel Miller, 1987Book | Recommended (Should Read) | especially Part Two.
The comfort of things - Daniel Miller, c2008Book | Recommended (Should Read) | you might like to dip in and out of chapters to get
a sense of how Miller makes use of material objects in telling life stories.
The comfort of things - Daniel Miller, c2008Book | Recommended (Should Read) | you might like to dip in and out of chapters to get
a sense of how Miller makes use of material objects in telling life stories.
Seminar Task Individual project workshop – Identifying an issue/ Question
Week 11 - Social Research, the Web and social media (3 items)
Required Reading (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Ch 28
Researching social life - 2015Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Ch 16
Other Recommended Reading (1 items)
Virtual Ethnography: Interactive Interviewing Online as Method - Susan Crichton, 2008Article | Recommended (Should Read)
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Week 12 - Designing a Qualitative research project
Weeks 13-22No Weekly readings
Week 23 - Writing Research Proposals (6 items)
Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Recommended (Should Read)
The essential guide to doing your research project - Zina O'Leary, Zina O'Leary, c2010(repr. 2012)
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Your research project: a step-by-step guide for the first-time researcher - NicholasWalliman, 2005
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Research for development: a practical guide - Sophie Laws, Caroline Harper, Nicola Jones,Rachel Marcus, 2013
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Researching social life - G. Nigel Gilbert, 2008Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Week 13 – The Joy of Statistics (5 items)
Key readings: (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 6: The nature of quantitative research & Chapter 24:
Breaking down the quantitative and qualitative divide
Rosling, Hans: Joy of stats: http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joy-of-stats/ [please viewbefore class!]
Recommended reading: (3 items)
Career with quantitative methods:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Careers_with_quantitative_methods_tcm8-2723.pdf
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Comparing universities: http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/ andhttp://blog.ouseful.info/2010/03/20/does-funding-equal- happiness-in-higher-education/
Telling truth from lies in the news There are several blogs that provide interesting, clearscrutiny of the statistics that are making headlines – even if you're not using these in yourown research, they're a great way of telling apart truth from lies in political debate. Thebest is FullFact (http://fullfact.org/), but Channel 4's Factcheck blog and Straight Statisticsare also pretty good.
More or Less on Radio 4 does the same, but also combines this with titbits about the mostexciting sociological research around: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd .
And for a more eclectic mix of quantitative research on just about every topic under thesun, check out:
- Freakonomics blog: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/
- Significance magazine:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1740-9713
- Bad Science blog: http://www.badscience.net/
Finally, the Guardian's Datablog not only has discussions of the latest interesting data, butlets you play around with it yourself! http://www.guardian.co.uk/data
Week 14 – Quantifying the unquantifiable? (14 items)
Key readings: (3 items)Choose one of:
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 9: Self-completion questionnaires & Chapter 10:
Asking questions
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 10: Questionnaires
The basics of social research - Earl R. Babbie, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 9: Survey Research
(you can also read- Chapter 5: Conceptualisation, Operationalization, and Measurement )
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Further readings: Defining/operationalising ethnicity: (10 items)
The basics of social research - Earl R. Babbie, 2016Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 5: Conceptualisation, Operationalization,
and Measurement
Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country - James D. Fearon, 2003Article | Recommended (Should Read)
The Operationalisation of Class in British Sociology: Theoretical and EmpiricalConsiderations - Vic Duke and Stephen Edgell, 1987
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Re-counting 'illiteracy': literacy skills in the sociology of social inequality - Geoff Payne,2006-06
Article | Recommended (Should Read) | Defining illiteracy:
So, how do you measure wellbeing and happiness? | News | theguardian.comWebpage | Recommended (Should Read) | Defining well-being and happiness:
Wealth and Happiness Revisited – Growing National Income Does Go with GreaterHappiness - Michael R. Hagerty, Ruut Veenhoven, 2003
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
the NEF study on how Cameron should measure wellbeingWebpage | Recommended (Should Read)
Attitudes Can Be Measured - L. L. Thurstone, 1928Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Internet resources on measurement issues:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_measurementhttp://changingminds.org/explanations/research/measurement/types_data.htmhttp://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/relandval.php
Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio Typologies Are Misleading - Paul F. Velleman andLeland Wilkinson, 1993
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Seminar task: Divide into groups and think of how you can design a question to measurethe topic discussed/found in week 9. Make a survey of 3~5 questions, do a quick surveyaround the class room.
Discuss the quality of the questions: Were the questions clear to the respondent or werethey interpreted in different manners to different people? Was this interpretation what thequestionnaire designers had in mind? Were the answer categories clear? Did they providesufficient answer possibilities or did they restrict the respondents' answers?
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(keep the outcomes of the survey data for they will be used throughout the module!)
Week 15 – Describing the Social World (10 items)
Key readings: (4 items)
The tiger that isn't: seeing through a world of numbers - Michael Blastland, A. W. Dilnot,2008
Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 5 (‘Averages: the white rainbow’) and p82-90 (onrelative vs. absolute risk).
The tiger that isn't: seeing through a world of numbers - Michael Blastland, A. W. Dilnot,2008
Book | Core (Must Read)
Understanding Graphs and Tables’. - H Wainer,, 1992Article | Core (Must Read)
Beginning statistics: an introduction for social scientists - Liam Foster, Ian Diamond, JulieJefferies, 2015
Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapters 3 (‘Pretty graphs’), 4 (‘Averages and percentiles’)and 5 (‘Spreads’).
Recommended readings: (1 items)
Wainer, H (1984), 'How to display data badly'. American Statistician 38(2):137-148, from
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~roos/Courses/grstat502/wainer.pdf
Poverty and the difference of means and medians -
http://www.poverty.ac.uk/content/Income%20threshold%20approach
Other good readings: (4 items)
The practice of social research - Earl R. Babbie, c2013Book | Background (Could Read) | There are many different editions of this book, but
you should read the chapter titled ‘Quantitative analysis’ or ‘Elementary quantitativeanalyses’. (This will also cover parts of the future weeks).
The practice of social research - Earl R. Babbie, c2013Book | Background (Could Read) | There are many different editions of this book, but
you should read the chapter titled ‘Quantitative analysis’ or ‘Elementary quantitativeanalyses’. (This will also cover parts of the future weeks).
Quantitative data analysis with SPSS 12 and 13: a guide for social scientists - Alan Bryman,Duncan Cramer, 2005
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Book | Background (Could Read) | Chapter 5 (‘Summarising data’) – you can ignore thebits on using SPSS for this course and focus on the description of means, frequencies etc.(but SPSS may well come in useful if you use this in your third-year dissertation).
On the visual presentation of information: see the books by Edward Tufte in the library,including the classic. The visual display of quantitative information, as well as Beautifulevidence or Visual and statistical thinking: displays of evidence for decision-making.
Help in using Excel The Excel help file is very good – look at 'Worksheet and Excel TableBasics' and 'Create a chart from start to finish'. There are also a huge number of resourcesavailable to help you use Excel – go to YouTube and search for 'Excel tutorial beginner' or'Excel chart', and take your pick. For example, you can look at:
- A 30-40min Microsoft course in creating charts (http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/excel-help/charts-i-how-to-create-a-chart-in-excel-2007- RZ010175754.aspx?CTT=1)
- MotionTraining (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L1OVkw2ZQ8&feature=related andhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVX2tAHq_J0) – a great UK English explanation of whatspreadsheets can do, but relates to a slightly older version of Excel (2003).
- ICTeacher.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2yEH2lyzW0&feature=related) –another UK example.
- KeyStoneLearning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv5m00YS_4I&feature=fvst) – cleardescription of charting in Excel 2007.
- ExcellsFun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVX2tAHq_J0) – the right version of Excel,and strongly, strongly American.
- ...and loads more...
Seminar task: In this week's seminar you will get a pack of 3-4 tables about a key currentsociological/social policy issue (e.g. unemployment, wealth). In groups, you'll then beasked to read through these tables, and create a graph + very short presentation onsomething that strikes you as particularly interesting. Each group will then present theseback to the rest of the seminar.
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Week 16 – Probability and the miracle of sampling (9 items)
Required Reading (2 items)
The tiger that isn't: seeing through a world of numbers - Blastland, Michael, Dilnot, A. W.,2008
Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 4 (‘Chance: The tiger that isn’t’) and Chapter 8(‘Sampling: Drinking from a fire hose’).
Statistics - Freedman, David, Pisani, Robert, Purves, Roger, 2011Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 19 (‘Sample surveys’). This is a very clear, enjoyable
and non-technical description, despite the title of the book
Recommended readings: (3 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 9 (‘Designing samples’)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter 8 - Sampling.
How biased is your sample? | Nathan Green's S word | Science | theguardian.comWebpage | Recommended (Should Read) | How biased is your sample’, from the
Guardian
Additional readings (4 items)
The practice of social research - Earl R. Babbie, c2013Book | Recommended (Should Read) | There are many different editions of this book,
but you should read the chapter titled ‘The logic of sampling’ (or similar).
Beginning statistics: an introduction for social scientists - Diamond, Ian, Jefferies, Julie,2001
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapters 7 (‘The Normal distribution’), 8 (‘Fromsamples to populations’) and 9 (‘Getting confident’) provide a statistical but very cleardiscussion of the topic.
Experiments in producing nonresponse bias - R M Groves, 2006Article | Recommended (Should Read)
The black swan: the impact of the highly improbable - Nassim Taleb, 2008Book | Recommended (Should Read) | The limits of probability samples – explaining
why Taleb was one of the few people who warned about the credit crunch. For interest,rather than directly for the course.
Week 17 – Reading Week No lecture or seminar but there is a clear expectation that students will catch up on anyreading they may have missed in previous weeks and that they prepare for forthcoming
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weeks
Week 18 - Degrees of association (4 items)
Key readings: Choose one of: (2 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 15: Quantitative data analysis
The basics of social research - Earl R. Babbie, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 14: Quantitative data analysis
Other readings (1 items)
GapminderWebpage | Recommended (Should Read) | Try this at home!
Gap minder graph maker: http://tinyurl.com/66caxrv (you can pick and choose variousindexes to see how they correlate with one another throughout time!)
Other readings (1 items)
See 'Understanding the causes of things – supplementary material', which is in the readinglist just below week 15.
Week 19 - Dissertation briefing on 3rd Year SO679 Module
Week 20 – Understanding the causes of things I (5 items)
Key readings: (2 items)
Multiple RegressionWebpage | Core (Must Read)
SPSS survival manual: a step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS - Julie Pallant,2016
Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 13: Multiple Regression
Other readings (3 items)
See 'Understanding the causes of things – supplementary material', which is in the readinglist just below week 15.
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Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics: and sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll - AndyP. Field, 2013
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | Chapter7. Regressions – 7.1~ 7.2; 7.4~7.5; 7.8
Quantitative data analysis with SPSS 17, 18 and 19: a guide for social scientists - Bryman,Alan, Cramer, Duncan, 2011
Book | Recommended (Should Read)
Week 21 - Understanding the causes of things II (15 items)
Key readings: (2 items)
The tiger that isn't: seeing through a world of numbers - Blastland, Michael, Dilnot, A. W.,2008
Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 12 (‘Causation: think twice’).
Understanding Confounding in Research - K N Murray, A Duggan, 2010Article | Core (Must Read)
Recommended readings: (4 items)
The practice of social research - Earl R. Babbie, c2013Book | Recommended (Should Read) | There are many different editions of this book,
but you should read the chapter titled ‘The idea of causation in social research’
Evid Based Mental Health - M A Babyak, 2009Article | Recommended (Should Read) | Babyak, MA (2009), ‘Understanding confounding
and mediation’. Evid Based Mental Health;12:68-71. doi:10.1136/ebmh.12.3.68
Risk factors, confounding, and the illusion of statistical control - N Christenfeld, R Sloan,2004
Article | Recommended (Should Read)
Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything - Levitt, StevenD., Dubner, Stephen J., 2006
Book | Recommended (Should Read) | P7-9, p105-129 (on what caused the decline incrime in the US), and p147-162 (on figuring out the impact of bad parenting).
Understanding the causes of things – supplementary material (5 items)
See 'Understanding the causes of things – supplementary material', which is in the readinglist just below.
This section includes a variety of material that is helpful for looking at regression /correlation – which basically can be grouped into (i) interesting examples of regressionapplied to real-life social issues; and (ii) materials to help you do regression/correlation
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yourself (e.g. for the group research project).
Interesting papers using regressions: 32
Is there a relationship between music taste and intelligence? :http://www.labnol.org/internet/music-taste-linked-to-intelligence/7489/ and
http://musicthatmakesyoudumb.virgil.gr/
And for a more academic version: Does certain music lead you to drug use anddelinquency?: Tanner, J., Asbridge, M. & Wortley, S. (2008) 'Our favourite melodies:musical consumption and teenage lifestyles' The British Journal of Sociology, Volume 59,Issue 1: pp. 117-144.(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00185.x/full)
Household work and sexual frequency:
News articles -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870450060457448535163814731
2.html and http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2009/10/21/does-more-housework-mean-more-sex/
And the original paper - Gager, C.T., & Yabiku, S.T. (2009) '
http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/early/2009/10/09/0192513X09348753.full.pdf+ht mlhttp://www.asu.edu/clas/ssfd/cepod/working/CePoD_WP_2009_103.pdf
Using Excel (4 items)
Oxford University Press | Online Resource Centre | Online Resource CentresWebpage
Using SPSS (the most straightforward proper statistics programme)
SPSS survival manual: a step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS - Julie Pallant,2016
Book | Chapter 11: Correlation, Chapter 17: T- tests
The Moodle page also contains a number of video lectures on correlation and regression.
How to make a scatter plot/derive a correlation coefficient in Excel:
Who Has the Time? The Relationship Between Household Labor Time and SexualFrequency' Journal of Family Issues
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TVkYmmCAs
How to do t-test in Excel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlfLnx8sh-o
Bryman, A. & Cramer, D. (2011) Quantitative Data Analysis with IBM SPSS 17, 18 &
19: A Guide for Social Scientist, Chapter 8: Bi-variate analysis: exploring relationshipsbetween two variables.
Field, A. P. (2011) Discovering statistics using SPSS: (and sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll),Chapter 6: Correlations & Chapter 9: Comparing Two Means
Week 22 - Real-world quantitative research Key readings:There are no key readings this week; instead you should concentrate on revising ALL of thequantitative methods block! This will help when we come to look at the exam.
Recommended readings: On Moodle there is a page called ‘Using other people’s data’ – if you look at this, you’ll beamazed how much you can do without collecting any data yourself!
Week 23 - Overview of Social Research Methods (3 items)
Required Reading (3 items)
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 26 & 27: Breaking down the quantitative/ qualitative
divide; Mixed Methods Research
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chap: 7
Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 7
Week 24 - Writing a Research Proposal (3 items)
Required Reading (3 items)
Researching social life - 2015Book | Core (Must Read) | Chaps: 3, 4 and 24
Social research methods - Alan Bryman, 2016Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapters 3, 4 & 29: Research designs; Planning a research
project and formulating research questions; Writing up social research
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Your research project: designing and planning your work - Nicholas Walliman, 2011Book | Core (Must Read) | Chapter 9
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