ST108     
Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences

This information is for the 2014/15 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Nicholas Cron COL.2.04

Availability

This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

The course is designed for students without a strong background in Mathematics, e.g. without A level Mathematics, and is suitable for students who wish to learn basic statistical methods for analysing social science data. This course cannot be taken with ST102 Elementary Statistical Theory, ST107 Quantitative Methods (Statistics) or ST103 Statistical Methods for Social Research.

Pre-requisites

A grade B in GCSE Mathematics or equivalent. No background in statistics is required.

Course content

A basic foundation in elementary statistical methods, theory and statistical reasoning. Basic use of computers to analyse data. Probability, random variable theory and distributions. Normal distribution, sampling concepts and sampling distributions. Estimation, significance tests and confidence intervals, one and two-sample methods. Linear regression, correlation. Test for proportions, simple contingency tables. Basic decision theory.

Teaching

14 hours of lectures, 8 hours of classes and 2 hours of computer workshops in the MT. 20 hours of lectures, 10 hours of classes and 2 hours of computer workshops in the LT. 3 hours of lectures and 3 hours of classes in the ST.

Indicative reading

Notes will be provided and form the basic reading material. Pointers will be given to further reading.

Assessment

Exam (70%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Continuous assessment (30%) in the MT and LT.

Key facts

Department: Statistics

Total students 2013/14: 22

Average class size 2013/14: 11

Capped 2013/14: No

Lecture capture used 2013/14: No

Value: One Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

PDAM skills

  • Application of numeracy skills

Course survey results

(2011/12 - 2013/14 combined)

1 = "best" score, 5 = "worst" score

The scores below are average responses.

Response rate: 80%

Question

Average
response

Reading list (Q2.1)

2.3

Materials (Q2.3)

1.5

Course satisfied (Q2.4)

1.8

Lectures (Q2.5)

1.8

Integration (Q2.6)

1.6

Contact (Q2.7)

1.7

Feedback (Q2.8)

1.5

Recommend (Q2.9)

Yes

75%

Maybe

25%

No

0%