Beyond The Numbers: The Impact of Quantitative Teaching on Overall Student Performance

Abstract

A number of studies demonstrate that quantitative teaching provides social science students with analytical and critical skills. Accordingly, the skills acquired during quantitative teaching are assumed to enhance students’ progress in and after their degree. However, previous studies rely on subjective measures of students’ evaluations of their skills. So far, no prior studies have examined whether the skills obtained through quantitative teaching can be transferred to an overall better performance at university. In order to address this gap, we use high-quality administrative records to examine the impact of quantitative teaching on undergraduate students’ overall marks. The results show that students subject to additional quantitative teaching obtain significantly better marks throughout their studies. The evidence emphasizes the importance of methodological pluralism for social science students.

Keywords:

• Higher education
• numeracy
• quantitative teaching
• student performance

Notes

1 The research is in compliance with the ethics guidelines of the University of Kent, including adequate human subject protections consistent with the University of Kent’s standards and in compliance with the American Political Studies Association Ethical Guidelines.

2 For reference, a typical Undergraduate Degree in the U.K. is worth 360 credits.

3 We also tested the average marks of the additional Q-Step modules, and we do not find any systematic differences from other modules. Hence, this reaffirms that any difference between the treatment and the control group in our study can be explained by the marks given in the additional Q-Step modules.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gianna Maria Eick

Dr Gianna Maria Eick is a Post-doc researcher and lecturer in Comparative Political Economy at the University of Konstanz. She previously finished her PhD at the University of Kent where she managed the Self-Study of the Q-Step Center at Kent. Her research interests include the relationship between migration and the welfare state, in particular welfare chauvinism, micro-meso-macro links to individual political attitudes and comparative social policy in general.

Erik Gahner Larsen

Dr Erik Gahner Larsen is Senior Scientific Adviser at the Conflict Analysis Research Center, University of Kent. His most recent research has been published in outlets such as British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, Political Science Research and Methods, and Party Politics.

Ben Baumberg Geiger

Dr Ben Geiger was a founding co-Director of the University of Kent’s Q-Step Center, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. His work focuses on the benefits system, disability and inequality, and more broadly, on the role of social science – including the need for mixed methods research, and the responsibilities of social scientists. Further details can be found at www.benbgeiger.co.uk

Trude Sundberg

Dr Trude Sundberg is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research and Director of the University of Kent’s Q-Step Center. Trude’s work focuses on the lived experiences of marginalized groups in society across different regions, nations and parts of the world by looking at both emotional and physical effects of discrimination, stereotyping, values, attitudes and inequalities. The second dimension of their work focuses on building stronger collective and community focused social research methods.