Social sciences ‘beef up’ statistical know-how – Friday, 20th January 2012
MMU is joining Oxford, Edinburgh and Manchester universities in a new national project to boost numeracy and quantitative skills in sociology.
A network of 20 institutions was selected by the Economic and Social Research Council, Hefce and the British Academy to run innovative projects that aim to develop skills using quantitative methods (QM).
The internet, advances in computing power and the growing ‘data deluge’ have increased demand for employers for graduates who possess skills and confidence in dealing with statistics.
Colleagues in the Department of Sociology, led by Dr Julie Scott-Jones, and the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CeLT) will implement a plan to further embed QM into the sociology undergraduate curriculum and to expand the number and quality of QM skilled staff in the department of sociology; although it is planned that the training courses, once developed will be available to staff across the university.
Stats skills dropping
Julie said: “A decade of research from the ESRC and the Royal Statistical Society shows that statistical skills from primary, through secondary and higher education are low and falling.
“Many social science degrees have a strong element of statistical analysis, so it is vital that we have the capacity to raise standards.
“If you look a many of the top career paths, for instance for sociology graduates in the civil service, think-tanks or local authorities, they require skills of this type.”
The three-year funded project will devise and support training in quantitative methods initially for staff in the Department of Sociology. This will then be rolled out to other staff through CeLT. Workshops on how to approach the teaching of QM units will also be offered.
Selected universities
18 of the chosen institutions are ancient or red-brick universities with only MMU and Bedford from the ‘new’ university sector. All 20 are creating a network which Julie says will boost this university’s profile and create new opportunities for collaboration.
The ESCRC project ‘No More Pointy-Clicking, Numbers Stuff: Building Staff Quantitative Skills’ is led by Julie Scott-Jones, and involves Dr John Goldring, and Dr Gary Pollock.
January 20th, 2012 - 13:45pm