Module 3: Bivariate Association (Series 2)

BeginnersPrerequisites

This module introduces students to four of the most commonly used statistical tests in the social scinces: Correlations, Chi-square tests, T-tests, and one-way ANOVAs.

Mphil Students from participating departments taking the Social Science Research Methods Course as part of their research degree

• Successful completion of modules 1 and 2, and/or previous training in introductory level statistics and SPSS software use.
• Assigned readings should be completed prior to the session for which the are listed.

Number of sessions: 4

• Session 1: Exploring relationships with continues data: Correlations
• Session 2: Exploring Associations with Categorical Data: Chi-Square
• Session 3: Exploring Differences between 2 groups/conditions: T-tests
• Session 4: Exploring differences between 3+ groups/conditions: ANOVA

• The objective is to learn of the assumptions underlying each test
• To receive practical instruction on how to generate and interpret bivariate results using SPSS

To study four most commonly used statistical tests in social sciences: Correlations;Chi-=square tests; T-tests and One-way ANOVAS

Presentations, demonstrations and practicals

SPSS v. 16 on PWF Windows

Three exercises

Throughout all introductory statistics modules the main textbook is:

• Field, Andy (2009), Discovering Statistics using SPSS. London:Sage

• To gain the maximum benefits from the course it is important that students do not see this course in isolation from the other MPhil courses or research training they are taking. Responsibility lies with each student to consider the potential for their own research using methods common in fields of the social sciences that may seem remote. Ideally this task will be facilitated by integration of the SSRMC with discipline-specific courses in their departments and through reading and discussion.

Four sessions of two hours

Four times in Lent term

• Module 1: Foundations in Statistics (Series 2)
• Module 2: SPSS and Descriptive Statistics for Judge Students