杏吧论坛

Dr Qilyu Hong

This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Sociology, MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Inequalities and Social Science, MSc in Political Sociology and MSc in Sociology. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). Places are allocated based on a written statement, with priority given to students on the MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Political Sociology, MSc in Sociology and MPhil/PhD in Sociology. This may mean that not all students who apply will be able to get a place on this course.

The main aim, and in line with a later part of the outline of this course, is to become comfortable with quantitative research design whilst identifying the main quantitative methods used in sociological research. It is an introductory course to quantitative methods. The course will allow you to acquire skills in quantitative research design and data analysis, which is a requirement for sociologists and the field's labour market.

The course also explores important debates and approaches in quantitative sociology using a case study approach. For every method we cover, we will read a selection of articles taken from major journals in the discipline. By analysing and criticising the operationalisation of quantitative methods in these articles, we will cover issues of research design and get a sense of what each method does (and does not do), and of the type of research questions to which it can be applied.

Aims of the course include: 

• Introducing quantitative data collection techniques
• Expose key conceptualisations in quantitative research and correctly employing statistical concepts.
• Present the overviews of common quantitative methods and techniques in contemporary sociological research (ranging from quantitative data collection, linear regression, logistic regression, experimental design, multilevel models and structural equation models).
• Evaluating challenges and benefits of employing quantitative research methods.
• Have a basic knowledge of STATA to be able to carry out basic statistical analyses.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Recognise quantitative sociological data collection techniques and employ quantitative sociological concepts correctly.
• Critically evaluate quantitative methodologies and differentiate between them whilst considering the ethical implications of quantitative research.
• Design sociological quantitative research while formulating quantitative research questions, generating quantitative measurable concepts and identifying between a descriptive argument and a casual inference.
• Develop a degree of familiarisation with the STATA interface.

NOTE: Detailed quantitative methods are provided in courses: such as MY451 (Introduction to Quantitative Analysis), MY465 (Intermediate Quantitative Analysis) and MY452 (Applied Regression Analysis), and other specialist courses of the 杏吧论坛 Department of Methodology. Also, MY451 and MY452 are recommended to MSc Sociology students interested in using quantitative analysis to develop the dissertation.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, online materials and workshops (seminars) totalling a minimum of 20 hours in the AT.

Seminars will allow students to reflect on quantitative methodologies, critically evaluate them, and design quantitative sociological research (formulating research questions and generating quantitative, measurable concepts). 

The seminars are organised around small group discussions to facilitate active peer learning in which students are intended to communicate, collaborate and discuss quantitative research with each other.

Reading Week: Students on this course will have a reading week in AT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Students will write one formative memo based on course readings and class activities.

• Rowntree, D. (2018). Statistics without tears : an introduction for non-mathematicians (Updated edition.). Penguin Books.
• Eikemo, T. A., Bambra, C., Huijts, T., & Fitzgerald, R. (2016). The First Pan-European Sociological Health Inequalities Survey of the General Population: The European Social Survey Rotating Module on the Social Determinants of Health. European Sociological Review, jcw019. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcw019
• Gidron, N., & Hall, P. A. (2017). The politics of social status: Economic and cultural roots of the populist right. British Journal of Sociology, 28.
• Jackson, M., & Cox, D. R. (2013). The Principles of Experimental Design and Their Application in Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 39(1), 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145443
• Miller, Holly Ventura, and J. C Barnes. "The Association Between Parental Incarceration and Health, Education, and Economic Outcomes in Young Adulthood." American Journal of Criminal Justice 40.4 (2015): 765-84. Web.
• Scherpenzeel, A., Axt, K., Bergmann, M., Douhou, S., Oepen, A., Sand, G., Schuller, K., Stuck, S., Wagner, M., & Börsch-Supan, A. (2020). Collecting survey data among the 50+ population during the COVID-19 outbreak: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Survey Research Methods, 217-221 Pages.

Memo (25%) in the AT.
Research proposal (75%) in the WT.

The first assessment is a 1500-word memo (25%). The second assessment is a 3500-word research proposal (75%). The proposal should outline your own research question utilising one data collection technique and one of the quantitative methods seen in class.

Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.