HEN446 Quantitative research in environmentalism

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2015
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jan Urban, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Bc. Petra Burišková
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
each even Thursday 9:45–13:00 U33
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! HEN447 Qualitative research && ! NOW ( HEN447 Qualitative research ) && ( ENS117 Introduction to methodology || ( SOC106 Methodology of Social Sciences && SOC108 Data Analysis with SPSS )) && HEN448 Academic Reading and Writing
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The objective of this course is to refresh and widen participants' knowledge and ability to carry their own empirical research. The course is design specifically to help the graduate students to master those methods of quantitative empirical research that they will employ in their master thesis. The course will combine lectures, exercises, and thorough discussion of students' research projects. The course will be adjusted to meet needs of participants, the schedule given bellow is only tentative.
Syllabus
  • 1. Scientific research. Policy-related and ethical aspects of quantitative research. Research question suitable for quantitative research. Research objectives (exploration, description, explanation). Important aspects of research design (research question, research objectives, focused literature review, hypotheses, definition and measurement of variables, data collection, data analysis methods, time schedule, budget, justification of the project, ethical aspects of research).
  • 2. Research design (descriptive, correlational, quasi-experimental and experimental studies, meta-analysis). Temporal dimension (cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies). Theory, hypothesis, operational definition, indicator, measurement, variable. Types of variables. Causality.
  • 3. Data visualization. Descriptive statistics. Statistical induction (population, random sample, indicator). Point estimate, confidence intervals. Test of statistical significance, power of the test, significance level. Parametric and non-parametric statistical inference. Comparison of means in one and two samples, comparison of variance, non-parametric tests of means, tests of normality. 4. Comparison of multiple means (ANOVA), post-hoc tests.
  • 5. Categorical data analysis (frequency, contingency tables, chi-square test of good fit).
  • 6. Analysis relationships with cardinal data.
  • 7. Analysis relationships with nominal and ordinal data.
  • General references (other sources will be recommended during each class)
Literature
    recommended literature
  • BABBIE, Earl R. The practice of social research. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010, xxiv, 530. ISBN 9780495598428. info
  • Hendl, J. (2009). Přehled statistických metod zpracování dat (Vyd. 3.). Praha: Portál.
  • Griffiths, D. (2008). Head First Statistics (1 edition.). Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
  • Leech, N. L., Barrett, K. C., & Morgan, G. A. (2005). SPSS for intermediate statistics: use and interpretation. Routledge.
  • Hair, J. F., Tatham, R. L., Anderson, R. E., & Black, W. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis (5th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Teaching methods
lectures, practicals, presentations, project analysis, discussions, projects, homeworks
Assessment methods
1) at least 60% success rate in all written tests;
2) preparation and presentation of the research project for master thesis;
3) completion of at least 80% of assignments;
4) preparation and presentation of empirical research similar to the one that will be used in the master thesis.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Student/ka si smí zaregistrovat/zapsat a absolvovat pouze jeden z předmětů HEN446 Kvantitativní výzkum a HEN447 Kvalitativní výzkum
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2015, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2015/HEN446