Dr Sally Stares

This course is compulsory on the MRes/PhD in Accounting (AOI) (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions Track) and MRes/PhD in Management (Employment Relations and Human Resources). This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Cities Programme, MPhil/PhD in Health Policy and Health Economics, MPhil/PhD in International Relations, MPhil/PhD in Social Policy, MPhil/PhD in Social Research Methods, MPhil/PhD in Sociology, MRes/PhD in Management (Organisational Behaviour) and MRes/PhD in Political Science. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course is available to all research students.

This course is not controlled access. If you register for a place and meet the prerequisites, if any, you are likely to be given a place

An intensive introduction to quantitative data analysis in the social sciences. The course is intended for students with no previous experience of quantitative methods or statistics. It covers the foundations of descriptive statistics and statistical estimation and inference. At the end of the course students should be able to carry out and interpret a range of data analysis techniques, from univariate and bivariate descriptives to multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression at an introductory level. The seminars and computer exercises give 'hands-on' training in the application of statistical techniques to real social science research problems using the R computer package (no prior knowledge of R is necessary).

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 30 hours across Autumn Term.

The course runs twice per year: in AT (MY551A) and again in LT (MY551W). The content of the course, and the method of assessment, is exactly the same in each term.

This course has a Reading Week in Week 6 of AT.

Self-guided computer exercises to be completed before weekly classes for discussion and a weekly online quiz.

A course pack will be available for download online. Additional reading: many introductory statistics books are available. But we particularly recommend Alan Agresti and Christine Franklin (2009) Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data. Pearson Education. Or Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay (2009, 4th edition) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences. Pearson Education (note that the second book is more advanced and is particularly useful if you are planning to take MY551 and MY552).

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the spring exam period.