Training Quantitative Social Science Teachers in the UK: Developing an International Pedagogic Collaborative Network for Quantitative Methods (IPCN-QM)

 

In collaboration with the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) and the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University (SOCSI), funded by the ESRC under the Research Development Initiative with support from getstats and the Royal Statistical Society (Cardiff RDI ES/J011851/1)

Summary

The key aims of this exciting new project are to:

• increase the number of quantitatively literate, competent and confident Social Science teachers in the UK
• improve the quality of quantitative methods (QM) teachers in the Social Sciences
• enable the use of quantitative materials in course design, delivery and assessment in substantive courses as well as methods modules in the UG curriculum across and at each level
• harness the strength in pedagogy and teaching of quantitative research from North American and European universities
• Facilitate the international collaboration and pedagogic development of quantitative Social Science, including UK academics who are not explicitly ‘QM teachers’
• promote a culture of producing and embedding high quality quantitative research through problem-based learning in UK Social Science

To achieve these objectives the School of Social Sciences (SOCSI) and the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) at Cardiff University will be organising an international workshop series hosted across the UK covering two key areas: 1) teaching quantitative methods; and 2) teaching substantive Sociology modules with quantitative research. There will be four two-day workshops with a final one-day closing conference over 18 months with a dedicated website on which participants can interact and share ideas.

Each workshop will be limited to 30 participants to maximise interaction. Both QM and non-QM teachers in the Social Sciences are welcome to enrol and we anticipate that participants will cascade their experiences to colleagues at their own institutions.

The four workshops are designed to cover both QM and substantive modules at each level of the UG curriculum using our ‘two-way embedding’ approach, i.e. embedding substantive examples in QM teaching and QM in substantive modules. We will explore how this can be achieved during two workshops on QM teaching and two on selected substantive areas of Sociology: Sociology of Education; Social Inequality and Stratification; and Political Sociology.

Each workshop will be supported by a pre-designated reading list and preparatory materials hosted on the web. Participants are encouraged to submit teaching materials that they find useful before each workshop so they can be discussed and drawn to the attention of other delegates. At the end of the project a sample of the course materials will be transferred to a public repository with a high profile (such as ‘ReStore’) for wider universal access, pending permission from participants.

Each workshop is designed to be stand-alone and participants can sign up for single workshops but are strongly encouraged to participate in the whole series to gain maximum benefits. As the series of events shadows the undergraduate progression from stage 1 to stage 3 (see below) there is much benefit in attending the whole programme.

To emphasise this, priority will be given to participants signing up to the whole series and a small number teaching buy-out places will be awarded to applicants showing a firm commitment to embedding of QM materials in the curriculum. Criteria for awards will be based on both experience in teaching QM as well as substantive modules in Social Sciences (details of awards to be released soon)

Workshop Details

To deliver the master classes on how to teach QM and facilitate the workshop activities we have recruited academics from across the globe who are both leaders in their field of research and have extensive experience of teaching QM to undergraduates in the Social Sciences. To learn more about these speakers please click on their name:

Mike Hout (UC Berkeley)
Ted Gerber (Winconsin-Madison)
Richard Zijdeman (Utrecht)
Don Treiman (UCLA)
Marc Swyngedouw (Leuven)

Most workshops will be held in Cardiff but it is highly likely that some events will be held in other easily accessible cities such as London, Manchester or Birmingham. Please check our project websites for the latest updates.

We are pleased to announce the confirmed dates and speakers so far below. Please click on the name of each workshop to find out more information about it.

27-28 March 2012 – Workshop 1 Introduction to Social Research (Year 1 module): How to motivate students to think and apply QM to social research? What is the appropriate level of statistics to teach first year undergraduate students?
(Confirmed speakers: Mike Hout, UC Berkeley; Ted Gerber, Wisconsin-Madison; Richard Zijdeman, Utrecht; Chris Wild, Auckland; Neville Davies, RSS)

28-29 June 2012: Workshop 2 Embedding QM in Substantive Module (1) on selected Year 2/3 modules such as Social Inequality and Stratification
(Confirmed speakers: Don Treiman, UCLA; Ted Gerber, Wisconsin-Madison)

1-2 November 2012: Workshop 3 Data Collection and Analysis (Year 2 module). This workshop will aim at current and potential QM teachers, focusing on innovative and effective ways of teaching survey methods, questionnaire design, and data analysis
(Confirmed Speakers:Marc Swyngedouw, Leuven; Richard Zijdeman, Utrecht; Don Treiman, UCLA)

25-26 March 2013: Workshop 4 Embedding QM in Substantive Module (2) on selected Year 2/3 modules such as Political Sociology, Race/Ethnicity, Migration, Sociology of Education.
(Confirmed Speakers: Marc Swyngedouw, Leuven; Mike Hout, UC Berkeley)

28 June 2013: Final Closing Conference: Pathways to a QM Integrated UG Curriculum. This event will bring together all the discussions and materials in previous workshops, allowing participants to present and discuss the materials they produced. The majority of our international speakers have confirmed attendance.

Booking

Details of Workshop 1 are now available (March 27th-28th in London). Workshops can be booked separately but a discounted rate is applied to those who book for all four workshops in the series.

Contact

For further information please contact:

Dr Sin Yi Cheung (Principal Investigator)
Email: CheungSY@cf.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)29 208 75446

Dr Luke Sloan (Co-Investigator)
Email: SloanLS@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)29 208 70262

Prof Malcolm Williams (Co-Investigator)
Email: WilliamsMD4@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)29 208 74848