GLCb1012 Quantitative Methodology in Action

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
1/1/1. 7 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Dominika Perdoch Sladká (lecturer)
Mgr. Ing. Tomáš Doseděl, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Tomáš Katrňák, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Tomáš Katrňák, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Dominika Perdoch Sladká
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 10:00–11:40 PC25
Prerequisites
The aim of this course is to extend your knowledge from the basic methodology course, especially in the area of quantitative methodology. During the course, you will learn how to design quantitative research, how to prepare a simple questionnaire, collect respondents' answers using the various online tools, statistically evaluate the obtained data and clearly present the results. The acquired skills will help you in other courses of your studies, in the preparation of your quantitatively oriented bachelor thesis, and improve your position on the labour market.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to extend your knowledge from the basic methodology course, especially in the area of quantitative methodology. During the course, you will learn how to design quantitative research, how to prepare a simple questionnaire, collect respondents' answers using the various online tools, statistically evaluate the obtained data and clearly present the results. The acquired skills will help you in other courses of your studies, in the preparation of your quantitatively oriented bachelor thesis, and improve your position on the labour market.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course the students will be familiar with the basic methodology of sociological research, basic research strategies, basic research paradigms and designs. Furthermore, the students will be able to design a research project, specify research problems and research questions, operationalize them, and choose the appropriate instruments for making surveys.
Syllabus
  • 1. The logic of social research: Science, human inquiry, paradigms, theory and social research
  • 2. Czech bank holiday, no lecture
  • 3. How to make a questionnaire: Survey design, good and bad questions, type of questions
  • 4. Online survey tools: Introduction to several online survey tools (such as Google Forms, Survio.com or Qualtrics)
  • 5. Make your own questionnaire: Revision of team hypotheses and questions. Joint creation of a shared questionnaire
  • 6. Survey design, sample construction: Random sampling, quota sampling, weighting
  • 7. Reading week
  • 8. Introduction to statistical analysis with statistical packages JASP, SPSS, and Stata
  • 9. Basic descriptive analysis: Frequency distribution, frequency table, central tendency (mean, median)
  • 10. Relationship between two variables: Comparing means, confidence intervals, contingency table, chi-square test
  • 11. Correlation: Measuring relationships between variables, basic correlation coefficients
  • 12. Presentation and visualisation of data: What makes a good graph, types of graphs, interpreting graphs, creating graphs
  • 13. Structure of a research paper: Examples of research papers from different social science disciplines; research paper structure: introduction, methods, results, discussion; how to present analysis results
Literature
    required literature
  • DIAMOND, Ian and Julie JEFFERIES. Beginning statistics : an introduction for social scientists. 1st pub. London: Sage Publications, 2001, x, 254. ISBN 0761960627. info
  • BABBIE, Earl R. The practice of social research. 9th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2001, 1 sv. ISBN 0534574742. info
Teaching methods
Lectures and class discusions, project, consultations, readings and homeworks.
Assessment methods
Every student can obtain up to 100 points during the semester. The points will be awarded as follows: 20 points: Active participation in class (physical presence and engaging in discussion): 2 points per class, maximum 20 points can be earned from 11 classes (one absence allowed without medical excuse. 30 points: Assignments 1-3 (research problem formulation, hypothesis design, questionnaire development). 30 points: Assignments 4-6 (descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis, correlation). 20 points: Final paper
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2023/GLCb1012