Pre-Data Collection (Repeat 2)

 

Target Group: Masters and Doctoral students starting out in quantitative research

 

Overview: The pre-data collection course provides guidance in structuring a well designed quantitative study. This will ensure that your study design and subsequent data collected will be appropriate for the statistical methods required to address your research questions. We suggest signing up to participate in the Pre-data collection course while you are in the initial planning stages of your study (Proposal phase).

This course, together with the post-data collection course, aims to equip researchers with the skills necessary to facilitate their own data collection, management and analysis. 

The aim of both these courses is to empower and educate participants on the basic methodologies, terminologies and statistical techniques required for quantitative research. By the end of the courses, participants should have the confidence and skills to undertake their own quantitative research independently, from start to finish. This includes everything from conceptualizing the research to performing the statistical analyses. International standards require that postgraduate students perform all their own statistical analyses for their research. Although one may seek the guidance of a statistician, the actual work needs to be done by the student themselves. It may seem a little daunting at first but being the primary person responsible for all aspects of the study will make interpreting and writing up the results that much quicker and easier!

The lectures of these courses are based on commonly used research approaches and will provide an intuitive understanding of the statistics used as opposed to a heavily theoretical approach filled with formulas and unfamiliar jargon! This approach will help you understand why we do each type of analysis and how you could make use of it in your own research. The post-data collection course concludes with a final assessment that will demonstrate your proficiency in basic quantitative techniques. Once you have passed this assessment you will have access to individual consultations to discuss any further questions about your quantitative research in detail.

Pre-Data Collection Course Outline:

• Introduction to Statistics in Research
  • How does the course work?
  • Why are statistics/statistical analysis important for research?
  • Why is it important to understand the statistics that you use?
  • Important statistical concepts
• Quantitative/Qualitative Methods and Data Types
  • Quantitative analysis versus Qualitative analysis
  • Quantitative Research Methods
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Mixed Methods Research Design
  • Data Types
• Research Methodology - Questionnaire Design
  • Questionnaire structure
  • Validity
  • Reliability
  • Difference between validated and self-validated scales
  • Sampling Techniques
  • Sampling method
  • Types of probability sampling
  • Types of non-probability sampling
• Research Methodology - An introduction to Experimental Design
  • Introduction to Experimental Design
  • Basic methods of Experimental Design
  • Basic Principles of Experimental Designs
  • Local Control
• Data capturing and software
  • Capturing data
  • Cleaning data
  • Missing data
  • Types of statistical software
  • How to download SPSS and the data analysis toolpak in Excel
  • SPSS Installation Process
  • Excel Data Analysis Toolpak

 

Course Information: The course contains an assessment component. The first part of the course is facilitated by the course leader. Thereafter, time is provided for the completion and submission of the required assignment.

 

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