Teaching Quantitative Methods: Getting the Basics Right

This exciting collection is both useful and timely. It clearly lays out the problems, strategies and resources associated with the teaching of quantitative methods in modern universities. Addressing the perceived 'crisis of number' in a practical and fresh way the book sets out dynamic new approaches to teaching quantitative methods. It offers historical, comparative, analytical reflection and empirical evidence concerning the crisis in contemporary social sciences. Experts from across the social sciences provide a wide range of authoritative insights as well as a number of useful illustrations of strategies and resources designed to help overcome this 'crisis of number'. Each chapter reflects the diversity of backgrounds and approaches within the social sciences making this an interdisciplinary, relevant addition to the subject. The book also: o focuses on innovations in how to teach quantitative research methods o reports on the latest ESRC research projects on teaching quantitative methods o locates itself within current debates about skills for employment. Clear, engaging and original this book will be essential reading for those interested in learning and teaching quantitative methods.

Table of Contents:
Preface - Geoff Payne and Malcolm Williams Introduction: The ′Crisis of Number′ - Geoff Payne and Malcolm Williams Informed Citizens, Competent Social Scientists Mapping the Academic Landscape of Quantitative Methods - Geoff Payne Best Practices in Quantitative Methods Teaching - Jonathan Parker Comparing Social Science Curricula Across Countries The Place of Quantification in the Professional Training of Sociologists - Martin Bulmer Some Career Reflections Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Teaching in Quantitative Methods - Malcolm Williams and Carole Sutton How to Teach the Reluctant and Terrified to Love Statistics - Katharine Adeney and Sean Carey The Importance of Context in Teaching Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences Improving the Teaching of Quantitative Methods to Undergraduate Social Scientists - Jane Falkingham and Teresa McGowan Understanding and Overcoming the Barriers Increasing Secondary Analysis in Undergraduate Dissertations - Jo Wathan, Mark Brown and Lee Williamson A Pilot Project Mathematics for Economics - Rebecca Taylor and Angela Scott Enhancing Teaching and Learning Jorum - Jackie Carter A National Service for Learning and Teaching The Problem, Strategies and Resources in Teaching Quantitative Methods - Matthew David The Way forward

About the Author :
Teaching Interests: Social Research Methods; Social Inequalities, Divisions and Mobilities Research Interests - current: Social Research Methods; Social Mobility; Social Processes in (small rural) Communities; 'Family History' Research Interests - recent: Class Identities; Literacy; Gender; Ethnicity; Poverty. Malcolm Williams is Professor and Director of the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Prior to joining Cardiff in 2010, he was Professor of Social Research Methodology and Head of the School of Psychosocial Sciences at the University of Plymouth where he taught for 16 years. Malcolm has designed and taught modules in the philosophy of social research for 18 years at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. In these he has introduced a number of innovative pedagogic techniques, such as Problem Based Learning and 'Concept Speed Dating', in which students take a key idea and move from table to table attempting to build conceptual links between ideas. Additionally he has taught many modules and short courses in social theory, research design, questionnaire design, scaling, sampling, scientific method and history of science. Williams has an extensive publishing record in philosophy of social research, including: Introduction to Philosophy of Social Research (with Tim May, Routledge, 1996), Knowing the Social World (with Tim May, OUP, 1998), Science and Social Science (Routledge, 2000), Making Sense of Social Research (SAGE, 2003), Philosophical Foundations of Social Research (SAGE, 2006), Teaching Quantitative Methods (with Geoff Payne, SAGE, 2011) Objectivity and Subjectivity in Social Research (with Gayle Letherby and John Scott, SAGE, 2012) and The SAGE Handbook of Innovations in Social Research (with W Paul Voght, SAGE, 2014).

Review :
This is a balanced plea for improving the way we teach social science methods and makes a compelling case for addressing the crisis in quantitative skills and reasoning in contemporary social science education. It does not seek to privilege quantitative social science but argues that the loss of quantitative competence is undermining the capacity to develop a mixed methods approach to social enquiry. I particularly value the emphasis on quantitative and systematic reasoning that are part and parcel of parcel of a quantitative approach. But this collection does more than make the case. It also provides evidence based approaches to improving the way we teach quantitative social science. This collection is timely and will equip those charged with the task of teaching quantitative methods to delive David de Vaus Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland This book ought to be required reading, not only for those who teach quantitative methods, for whom it will be an invaluable resource, but for anyone concerned with the development of the undergraduate curriculum in university social science. Payne and Williams not only make an unanswerable case that current approaches to quantitative methods teaching are quite inadequate, they show clearly how it can, and must, be done better. They place a welcome emphasis on the ′basics′. The challenge is to ensure students have a solid command of the fundamentals of quantitative methods, so that they are not cut off from the vast and growing areas of social science knowledge that uses them. This book is not another instruction manual setting out what should be taught and how. It is much richer than that. It provides a lucid analysis, superbly well informed by the long experience of an impressive collection of practitioners, of what has gone wrong and how it can be put right. It is a book full of insight that teachers will want to consult again and again when thinking about how best to ′get the basics right John Macinnes Professor and Head of Sociology, University of Edinburgh and ESRC Strategic Advisor on undergraduate quantitative methods teaching There is much talk and often hype nowadays about the crisis in quantitative research methods in British social science. It is time for a clear-thinking discussion of the underlying issues and how best to address them through teaching in this area. Payne and Williams′s book represents a highly significant contribution to such a debate and should be essential reading for all of us who have taught quantitative research methods Alan Bryman Professor of Organisational and Social Research, University of Leicester The volume at hand - Teaching Quantitative Methods; Getting the Basics Right, edited by Geoff Payne and Malcolm Williams - is a systematic and reflective answer to the so-called ′problem of numeracy′ that is negatively affecting the global reach of British social sciences. The 11 chapters of the book, including the introduction written by the editors, are justified by the recognition of difficulties faced by British social science undergraduate programs to equip their students with adequate skills in quantitative research methods and hence discuss the significance of this context as well as solutions to it. Adrian Hatos Journal of Social Research and Policy