Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
Unit name |
Statistics in Education |
Unit code |
EDUCM5504 |
Credit points |
10 |
Level of study |
M/7
|
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
Unit director |
Professor. Browne |
Open unit status |
Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None
|
Co-requisites |
None
|
School/department |
School of Education |
Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit introduces the most commonly used statistical procedures used in educational research. No previous experience of statistics is required.
- introduce the most commonly used methods of descriptive statistics in educational research;
- introduce commonly used procedures, in educational research, for comparing groups and measuring association (independent and paired samples t-tests, non-parametric tests of difference, correlation coefficients and chi-square tests);
- introduce procedures for selecting the most appropriate technique in relation to the research questions and data collected;
- be able to carry out appropriate statistical procedures in the SPSS software and report them accurately;
- effectively interpret statistical results obtained in relation to the original research questions posed;
- develop students’ critical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of a range of quantitative methods as applied in the research literature.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
- Select from the statistical methods covered in the unit and justify their use in a given situation.
- Generate descriptive statistics and conduct statistical tests in SPSS, and appropriately report and interpret the output.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of aspects of the quantitative research approaches used in the social sciences
Teaching Information
Lectures, computer practicals using SPSS software, critical reading and discussion of published quantitative articles.
Assessment Information
Formative assessment:
Regular worksheets will be provided in which students attempt a statistical analysis task. Annotated answers to the original worksheet will then be provided for students, allowing them to check their progress.
Summative assessment:
Students will provided with a selection of prepared datasets and/or statistical outputs. In a structured assignment with a number of sections, students will be required to identify the appropriate method for statistical analysis for a given research question and dataset, conduct that analysis in an appropriate software package, select the relevant parts of the statistical output, present them effectively, and interpret the findings (2,000 words).
The assignment covers ILOs 1-3.
Reading and References
Field A. (2013) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (4th Edition). London, Sage
Foster, L., Diamond, I. & Jeffries, J. (2014). Beginning Statistics: An Introduction for Social Scientists (2nd Edition). London, Sage
Salkind, N.J. (2013). Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics (5th edition). Sage.