Embedding quantitative skills into the social science curriculum: case studies from Manchester

Abstract

Those aiming to respond to the recognised shortage in quantitative skills within the UK social sciences have increasingly focused on the content of undergraduate degree programmes. Problems occur when quantitative methods are generally confined to a dedicated module, detached from substantive topics. This model makes it hard for students to understand or engage with the contribution of quantitative research to their discipline and can perpetuate negative perceptions of quantitative training. We suggest a solution to this problem is ‘quantitative embedding’, in which quantitative evidence and methods are incorporated into substantive teaching in the social sciences. We illustrate quantitative embedding with case studies from an ESRC funded project based in The University of Manchester, where teaching partnerships have developed curriculum innovations in Sociology and Politics. The paper then discusses the challenges of disseminating quantitative embedding, highlighting the need to bridge separate communities of practice that can isolate quantitative specialists.

Keywords:

• pedagogy
• quantitative embedding
• quantitative skills

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Economic and Social Research Council through grants received under the Researcher Development Initiative and the Curriculum Innovation Initiative [grant numbers ES/J011665/1 and ES/J011622/1].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. See Heuvel-Panhuizen and Van den Drijvers (2014) for more on RME and Searle and Barmby (2012) for an evaluation of an RME teaching approach in the UK.

2. The BSA Information System at http://www.britsocat.com/ and the British Election Study Information System at http://www.besis.org/.

3. This is a worry expressed by, amongst others, Byrne (2012).

4. See for example, Jorum (http://www.jorum.ac.uk/); ESRC’s Quantitative Methods Initiative (http://www.quantitativemethods.ac.uk/); OPOSSEM, the Online Portal for Social Science Education in Methodology (http://opossem.org/), and; the Oxford Social Science QM teaching archive (http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/qm-teaching-materials-archive).

5. Case studies and teaching materials from the project are available online under Creative Common’s license (http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/essted).