Syllabus

Methods, Measurement & Statistics (Premaster fall & spring)

Course name Methods, Measurement & Statistics (Premaster fall & spring)
Course code 424025-B-6
Number of credits (ects) 6 ECTS
Program(s) Premaster HRS / Sociology
Position in the program(s) Year 1, Semester 1 & 2
Academic year 2022-2023
Language of instruction English

READ THIS SYLLABUS THOROUGHLY BEFORE THE START OF THE COURSE

Minor changes are possible; these changes will be published on Canvas.
© 2023 Tilburg University, Paul Lodder.

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Contents

Teaching staff.................................................................................................................................. 3
Course description .......................................................................................................................... 3
Course learning goals ...................................................................................................................... 4
Methodology:.............................................................................................................................. 4
Measurement:............................................................................................................................. 4
Statistics: ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Course status in the program ......................................................................................................... 5
Compulsory course material ........................................................................................................... 5
Study Load ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Course schedule .............................................................................................................................. 6
Code of conduct .............................................................................................................................. 7
Assessment ..................................................................................................................................... 7

2
Teaching staff
Name: Paul Lodder
Contact: [email protected]
Role in course: Coordinator and statistics/measurement lectures
Profile: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/p-lodder
Website: www.paultwin.com

Name: Guy Moors

Contact: [email protected]
Role in course: methods/measurement lectures
Profile: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/guy-moors

Name: Paul Tromp

Contact: [email protected]
Role in course: SPSS lab sessions coordinator
Profile: https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/paul-tromp

Course description
The general goal of this course is to give students the necessary prior knowledge in research
methodology, questionnaire design and analysis, and inferential statistics, which is essential for
successfully completing the master programs. This course also prepares the students for the
courses Causal Analysis and the Research Practicum in the premaster program.

Guy Moors will teach the methodological aspects of doing social research and Paul Lodder the
statistics part of the course. The topic of measurement is included in both parts. This course has
computer lab sessions (3 in total) that are coordinated by Ghislaine van Bommel.

3
Course learning goals
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to ...

Methodology:

• describe the cornerstones of social research (theories, propositions and

hypotheses) and understand the difference between research question,
hypothesis and proposition
• list variations in unit of analysis; nested data designs;
• recognize different types of multivariate hypotheses; formulate research
questions and hypotheses;
• build conceptual models based on a set of hypotheses
• manage the principle of elaboration
• describe the target population versus sampling frame; probability versus
non-probability sampling; simple random sampling; stratified sampling;
cluster sampling;
• define factors influencing sample size requirement;
• describe characteristics of survey research; examples of large scale survey
research; modes of survey research; causality within survey research; survey
instrumentation; wording of survey questions; survey bias;
• argue whether the survey design allows to research issues of causality;
identify when survey questions are vulnerable to survey bias; argue what the
benefits and drawbacks are of a particular survey mode in a given context.

Measurement:

• describe the concepts of measurement errors, validity and reliability;

• describe the process of conceptualizing to operationalizing; explain
difference between random versus systematic measurement bias; explain
concepts of validity and reliability;
• recognizing when researchers discuss validity versus reliability issues in
measurement;
• explain how reliability and validity determine the quality of a measurement
and how they can be assessed;
• execute a reliability analysis in SPSS and evaluate the reliability of a
questionnaire and determine the contribution of each item;
• execute an exploratory factor analysis, with and without rotation of factors,
and are able to use the output to evaluate the validity of a questionnaire and
decide whether the data meets the requirements to perform a factor
analysis.

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Statistics:

• compute and interpret commonly used descriptive statistics such as the

sample mean, the median, the mode, de standard deviation, the variance, de
proportion, the correlation coefficient, and Cohen’s effect size;
• to compute and interpret different association measures depending on the
measurement level of the variables;
• to explain the concept of sampling error, and describe the sampling
distribution for the mean;
• to describe the logical and steps of null hypothesis significance testing;
• to execute different statistical tests such as the Z-test, the one and two
sample t-test, and the chi-square test of testing independence;
• to interpret the p-value and recognize misconceptions about the p-value;
• explain the relationship between different concepts such as type I and type II
errors, one and two-sided hypotheses, the p-value, and the power of a test;
• compute and interpret confidence intervals for different parameters such
the population mean, the correlation, and the mean difference;
• to explain how different factors, such as the sample size, the confidence
level, and the precision, influence a confidence interval.

Course status in the program

This course prepares the students for the courses Causal Analysis and the Research Practicum in
the premaster program.

Compulsory course material

• Straits, B.C., & Singleton, R. A.. Social Research: Approaches and Fundamentals
(international sixth edition) Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190635107
• Rebecca M. Warner. Applied Statistics I (Basic Bivariate Techniques) + Applied
Statistics II (Multivariable and Multivariate Techniques): Third Edition Bundle
Volume I and II (3rd edition). Sage Publications.
Note: This edition consists of two volumes and both volumes are available
together at a greatly reduced price in a course pack, which TSB students can
order at StudyStore and only with ISBN 9781529780970
• Material shared on Canvas

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Study Load
Activity Assessed number of hours
Reading and self-study 90 hours
Attending lectures 28 hours
Attending tutorials & lab sessions 15 hours
Working on coursework assessment 15 hours
Preparation exams 20 hours
Total 168 hours (6ECTS)

Course schedule
Each week you will have 2 lectures – 1 on methods and 1 on statistics. There will be 6
weeks of lectures and a final week in which a Q&A session is organized. The methods
lectures by Guy Moors require preparation by watching video lectures. From week 2 you
will have tutorials on the statistics part of the course. Your tutorial teacher is a trained
student assistant. There will be three SPSS lab sessions, supervised by trained teaching
assistants (TA).

Week Dates Lecture Tutorial Lab session

1 Lecture 1 (Moors)
Lecture 1 (Lodder)
2 Lecture 2 (Moors) Tutorial 1 (TA) Lab session 1 (TA)
Lecture 2 (Lodder)
3 Lecture 3 (Moors) Tutorial 2 (TA)
Lecture 3 (Lodder)
4 Lecture 4 (Moors) Tutorial 3 (TA) Lab session 2 (TA)
Lecture 4 (Lodder)
5 Lecture 5 (Moors) Tutorial 4 (TA)
Lecture 5 (Lodder)
6 Lecture 6 (Moors) Tutorial 5 (TA) Lab session 3 (TA)
Lecture 6 (Lodder)
7 Q&A lecture (Lodder)
Q&A lecture (Moors)
Exams

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Code of conduct
• All instructions in class will be in English;
• Speak English with each other when working on assignments as much as you can.
• Please be quiet during lectures! Because we are in a very large group, talking in class
easily leads to a lot of noise. Avoid speaking and even whispering with you fellow
students.
• During lectures and tutorials, we expect students to engage only in matters directly
related to the course.

Assessment
Graded Weight (%) Pass/Total Possibility and Is compensation
summative score assessment type allowed?
assessments for the re-sit
Multiple 100% 35/50 (°) Multiple choice Not applicable
choice exam exam

SPSS test 0% (Pass required) 14/20

The grading of the course consists of two parts: the course exam (graded 1-10) and the
SPSS practical (graded pass-fail). A student passes the course and receives the
corresponding ects when he/she is graded a 6 or higher in the course exam and a pass in
the SPSS exam. Both partial results remain valid after the academic year in which they
were obtained.
The course exam is a multiple-choice exam of 50 questions. You will have 180 minutes
to answer these 50 questions. Questions test formal knowledge as well as
comprehension of course material and a student’s capacity to apply knowledge.
(°) We make use of the standardization of scores with the aid of the following guessing
formula as defined by the university assessment expert: 10*(X-pN)/(N-pN) with X =
number of correct answers, p = chance of guessing the correct answer (=1/number of
options) and N = number of questions. The exam includes questions with 2, 3 or 4
response options. In the above example of the total score of 35/50 applies only when all
questions have 4 response options. The actual norm in the exam may thus deviate.
The SPSS practical exam includes assignments similar to the assignments in the lab
sessions. You need to show that you master SPSS skills. Additional information on this
SPSS exam will be communicated through Canvas.