YSS-20306 Quantitative and Qualitative Research Techniques (in the Social Sciences)

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

Dutch

Assumed knowledge on:

YRM-10306, MAT-15303 and MAT-15403

Contents:

Participants develop knowledge and skills to carry out both qualitative and quantitative empirical research. The focus is on data gathering and analysis. Attention will also be paid to the link between these phases and the research process in total.

Learning outcomes:

On completion of the course the student is expected to be able to;
- set up a research design, given a research problem and hypotheses at a more sophisticated and detailed level compared to what s/he was able to do on completion of YRM-10306;
- demonstrate the skills to gather data in qualitative studies, where data gathering is especially crucial, complex and strongly developed, by means of open interviews and observations;
- carry out a content analysis of data gathered in qualitative research;
- demonstrate knowledge of the background and principles of four often-used quantitative data-analysis techniques: crosstabulation, regression analysis, analysis of variance, and factor analysis;
- judge the suitability of the before-mentioned data-analysis techniques given particular research questions, hypotheses, and gathered data, and interpret the results from these techniques from the perspective of the latter;
- demonstrate skills in the analysis of data gathered in quantitative studies by means of the mentioned techniques, using the statistical software package SPSS.

Activities:

- study of literature;
- lectures and practicals;
- group work on exercises.

Examination:

Reports on exercises and written exam.

Literature:

Field, A., (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (3 rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage
Book on qualitative research techniques is currently being reconsidered , (will be announced on the Blackboard-site, about one month in advance).
Handouts.