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Understanding Quantitative Social Research

Understanding Quantitative Social Research. Understanding. Description and causation Research questions and research methodologies Patterns, inclusions and exclusions Definitions, presentation and interpretation.

abigail-ewing
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Understanding Quantitative Social Research

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  1. Understanding Quantitative Social Research

  2. Understanding Description and causation Research questions and research methodologies Patterns, inclusions and exclusions Definitions, presentation and interpretation

  3. ‘In examining claims of race and migration we are not arguing that statistics have no place in policy debate. On the contrary, it is our contention that democracy functions better if everyone has access to the best possible information. Thus it cannot be in the interest of our society for debate about such important issues to be based on myths’ (Finney and Simpson, Sleepwalking to Segregation?, p2)

  4. Quantitative Method(s), not philosophy Descriptive and/or inferential Numbers of: deaths, births, crimes, arrests… Proportions of: men, disabled people, incomes… Changes in: employment rates, educational participation, voting…

  5. Some jargon • Primary and secondary analysis • Variables and Cases • Indicators, validity and reliability • Continuous and discrete variables • Probability and significance • Correlation and causation

  6. Correlation http://xkcd.com/552/

  7. Social Factors such as • Age • Health • Gender • Employment • Ethnicity • Education • Class • Disability Behaviours such as • Opinion • Participation • Consumption • Representation • Family • Migration • Discrimination • Crime

  8. BIG data • Commercial research surveys; enormous corporate and government databases • Implications for what we know about the social world • Implications for HOW we know the social world • Implications for what research questions we ask, and how

  9. Free data! http://ukdataservice.ac.uk http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/themes http://stats.oecd.org/ http://data.worldbank.org/ http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadThematic.do?a=7&b=6275069&c=CV4+7AL&d=13&e=4&f=34078&g=6484426&i=1001x1003x1004x1005&l=2212&o=404&m=0&r=0&s=1384264911466&enc=1 ]

  10. Data Visualisations http://www.gapminder.org/data/ http://www.worldmapper.org/ http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/may/17/uk-public-spending-departments-money-cuts http://mondediplo.com/blogs/mapping-europe-s-war-on-immigration http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

  11. Exercise • Review the handout, which shows data from an opinion poll by YouGov, on behalf of The Sun newspaper http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/fupsj8wpnk/YG-Archive-immigration-van-results-120813.pdf This presents the results of a telephone survey to a purposive sample of 1660 adults, the answers have then been weighted in line with the national population. • What patterns can you see in the data? • What conclusions can be drawn from this survey? • Comment on the methodology used and its relationship to the findings.

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