Social Sciences Research Methods Programme course timetable

This module is an extension of the three previous modules in the Basic Statistics stream, and introduces more complex and nuanced aspects of the theory and practice of mutivariate analysis. Students will learn the theory behind the methods covered, how to implement them in practice, how to interpret their results, and how to write intelligently about their findings. Half of the module is based in the lecture theatre; the other half is lab-based, in which students will work through practical exercises using the statistical software Stata.

Topics covered include:

• Interaction effects in regression models: how to estimate these and how to interpret them
• Marginal effects from interacted models
• Ordered and categorical discrete dependent variable models (ordered and multinomial logit and probit)

To get the most out of the course, you should also expect to spend some time between sessions building your own statistical models.

This module is an extension of the three previous modules in the Basic Statistics stream, and introduces more complex and nuanced aspects of the theory and practice of mutivariate analysis. Students will learn the theory behind the methods covered, how to implement them in practice, how to interpret their results, and how to write intelligently about their findings. Half of the module is based in the lecture theatre; the other half is lab-based, in which students will work through practical exercises using the statistical software Stata.

Topics covered include:

• Interaction effects in regression models: how to estimate these and how to interpret them
• Marginal effects from interacted models
• Ordered and categorical discrete dependent variable models (ordered and multinomial logit and probit)

To get the most out of the course, you should also expect to spend some time between sessions building your own statistical models.

Open Source Investigation for Academics is methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, Social Sciences Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

NB. Places on this module are extremely limited, so please only make a booking if you are able to attend all of the sessions. Open Source Investigation for Academics is a methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, the Social Science Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

Propensity score matching (PSM) is a technique that simulates an experimental study in an observational data set in order to estimate a causal effect. In an experimental study, subjects are randomly allocated to “treatment” and “control” groups; if the randomisation is done correctly, there should be no differences in the background characteristics of the treated and non-treated groups, so any differences in the outcome between the two groups may be attributed to a causal effect of the treatment. An observational survey, by contrast, will contain some people who have been subject to the “treatment” and some people who have not, but they will not have not been randomly allocated to those groups. The characteristics of people in the treatment and control groups may differ, so differences in the outcome cannot be attributed to the treatment. PSM attempts to mimic the experimental situation trial by creating two groups from the sample, whose background characteristics are virtually identical. People in the treatment group are “matched” with similar people in the control group. The difference between the treatment and control groups in this case should may therefore more plausibly be attributed to the treatment itself. PSM is widely applied in many disciplines, including sociology, criminology, economics, politics, and epidemiology. The module covers the basic theory of PSM, the steps in the implementation (e.g. variable choice for matching and types of matching algorithms), and assessment of matching quality. We will also work through practical exercises using Stata, in which students will learn how to apply the technique to the analysis of real data and how to interpret the results.

Propensity score matching (PSM) is a technique that simulates an experimental study in an observational data set in order to estimate a causal effect. In an experimental study, subjects are randomly allocated to “treatment” and “control” groups; if the randomisation is done correctly, there should be no differences in the background characteristics of the treated and non-treated groups, so any differences in the outcome between the two groups may be attributed to a causal effect of the treatment. An observational survey, by contrast, will contain some people who have been subject to the “treatment” and some people who have not, but they will not have not been randomly allocated to those groups. The characteristics of people in the treatment and control groups may differ, so differences in the outcome cannot be attributed to the treatment. PSM attempts to mimic the experimental situation trial by creating two groups from the sample, whose background characteristics are virtually identical. People in the treatment group are “matched” with similar people in the control group. The difference between the treatment and control groups in this case should may therefore more plausibly be attributed to the treatment itself. PSM is widely applied in many disciplines, including sociology, criminology, economics, politics, and epidemiology. The module covers the basic theory of PSM, the steps in the implementation (e.g. variable choice for matching and types of matching algorithms), and assessment of matching quality. We will also work through practical exercises using Stata, in which students will learn how to apply the technique to the analysis of real data and how to interpret the results.

This course provides an introduction to the management and analysis of qualitative data using Atlas.ti. It is divided between pre-recorded lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant strategies and techniques, and hands-on live practical sessions in Zoom, in which you will learn how to analyse qualitative data using the software.

The sessions will introduce participants to the following:

• consideration of the advantages and limitations of using qualitative analysis software
• setting-up a research project in Atlas.ti
• use of Atlas.ti's menus and tool bars
• importing and organising data
• starting data analysis using Atlas.ti’s coding tools
• exploring data using query and visualization tools

Please note: Atlas.ti for Mac will not be covered.

This module is an introduction to ethnographic fieldwork and analysis and is intended for students in fields other than anthropology. It provides an introduction to contemporary debates in ethnography, and an outline of how selected methods may be used in ethnographic study.

The ethnographic method was originally developed in the field of social anthropology, but has grown in popularity across several disciplines, including sociology, geography, criminology, education and organization studies.

Ethnographic research is a largely qualitative method, based upon participant observation among small samples of people for extended periods. A community of research participants might be defined on the basis of ethnicity, geography, language, social class, or on the basis of membership of a group or organization. An ethnographer aims to engage closely with the culture and experiences of their research participants, to produce a holistic analysis of their fieldsite.

Session 1: The Ethnographic Method What is ethnography? Can ethnographic research and writing be objective? How does one conduct ethnographic research responsibly and ethically?

Session 2: Visual Anthropology This session outlines the relation of ethnographic film to anthropology and ethnographic knowledge generally, looks at some examples of contemporary ethnographic film practice, and inquires into the possible utility of photography and video recording in the research process of ethnographic fieldwork in general. We continue the prior session’s consideration of some of the epistemological, theoretical, social, and ethical considerations that tend to arise around use of these audiovisual recording technologies in anthropological fieldwork and analysis.

Session 3: Ethnography and/as Audio Shortly after the phonograph was invented, ethnographers began using audio recording to document the cultural practices they were researching. For some, it has served as a kind of scientific tool to gather evidence and generate archives of linguistic, musical, and other sonic practices; for many others, it has served as an essential tool for interviewing about any topic; and for other still, audio recording and re-composition offer new possibilities of what ‘writing culture’ means. What are the consequences of using audio recording in fieldwork? And what are the technical, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of doing so?

Session 4: Relationships in the Field Ethnographic methodology and participant observation often involve researchers’ positioning in existing networks of social relations. This session is meant to help attendees manage interpersonal relationships with research participants from academic, political, and ethical perspectives. We will discuss when and why relationships in ethnographic fieldwork can be a reason for concern. We will reflect on the social distinctions that emerge when doing fieldwork with other people and their effects on researchers’ decision-making process. Finally, we will think through different fieldwork strategies when working with others, and how they impact the production of ethnographic knowledge.

This module provides an applied introduction to panel data analysis (PDA). Panel data are gathered by taking repeated observations from a series of research units (eg. individuals, firms) as they move through time. This course focuses primarily on panel data with a large number of research units tracked for a relatively small number of time points.

The module begins by introducing key concepts, benefits and pitfalls of PDA. Students are then taught how to manipulate and describe panel data in Stata. The latter part of the module introduces random and fixed effects panel models for continuous and dichotomous outcomes. The course is taught through a mixture of lectures and practical sessions designed to give students hands-on experience of working with real-world data from the British Household Panel Survey.

• Introduction to PDA: Concepts and uses
• Manipulating and describing panel data
• An overview of random effects, fixed effects and ‘hybrid’ panel models
• Panel models for dichotomous outcomes

This SSRMP module introduces solicited diaries as a qualitative data collection method. Diary methodology is a flexible and versatile tool which has been used across a variety of disciplines (e.g. public health, nursing, psychology, media studies, education, sociology).

Solicited diaries are particularly powerful in combination with qualitative interviews, enabling the remote collection of rich data on intimate or unobservable topic areas over a longer period of time. This multi-method approach, also known as the ‘diary-interview method’ (DIM), has been originally developed as an alternative to participant observation (see: Zimmerman, D. H., & Wieder, D. L. (1977). The Diary: Diary-Interview Method. Urban Life, 5(4), 479–498.), which makes it an especially attractive qualitative data collection method in Covid-19 times.

In addition to the engagement with pre-recorded videos on Moodle (covering diary methodology basics), you will get hands-on experience with designing your own qualitative diary (3 hours live workshop via Zoom) and trying out the role of a researcher as well as research participant over a 5-day period (teaming up with a module colleague and filling out each other’s diaries). We will reflect on these experiences and answer remaining questions in a final 1-hour live session via Zoom.

The module is suitable for anybody interested in learning more about the method and/or using solicited qualitative diaries in their own research projects.

The module aims to provide students with an introduction to and overview of survey methods and its uses and limitations. It will introduce students both to some of the main theoretical issues involved in survey research (such as survey sampling, non-response and question wording) and to practicalities of the design and analysis of surveys. The module consists of six 1.5 hour sessions, alternating between prerecorded lectures and practical exercises.

The module aims to provide students with an introduction to and overview of survey methods and its uses and limitations. It will introduce students both to some of the main theoretical issues involved in survey research (such as survey sampling, non-response and question wording) and to practicalities of the design and analysis of surveys. The module consists of six 1.5 hour sessions, alternating between prerecorded lectures and practical exercises.

This module provides an applied introduction to panel data analysis (PDA). Panel data are gathered by taking repeated observations from a series of research units (eg. individuals, firms) as they move through time. This course focuses primarily on panel data with a large number of research units tracked for a relatively small number of time points.

The module begins by introducing key concepts, benefits and pitfalls of PDA. Students are then taught how to manipulate and describe panel data in Stata. The latter part of the module introduces random and fixed effects panel models for continuous and dichotomous outcomes. The course is taught through a mixture of lectures and practical sessions designed to give students hands-on experience of working with real-world data from the British Household Panel Survey.

• Introduction to PDA: Concepts and uses
• Manipulating and describing panel data
• An overview of random effects, fixed effects and ‘hybrid’ panel models
• Panel models for dichotomous outcomes

Qualitative interviews are often used in the social sciences to learn more about the world and are often considered to be particularly appropriate for people we might class as vulnerable. The goal of this course is to encourage students to think critically about whether this is actually the case, and to offer a practical guide to conducting qualitative research with vulnerable participants in a way which neither produces nor takes advantage of their vulnerability. It will be highly discursive, and will draw throughout on ‘real life’ examples from the lecturer’s work interviewing people in prison, as well as with other research with people deemed vulnerable. The course will be of interest to students who are conducting, or planning to conduct, research with a group considered vulnerable, and will also be of interest to students who want to critically engage with such research in their field. In the first session, we will consider the politics of vulnerability. What is it? What creates it? What does it mean to deem someone ‘vulnerable’? What are the benefits and dangers of conducting research with ‘vulnerable’ people, and how can different forms of research exploit, create and alleviate vulnerability? In the second session we will think through the challenges of actually undertaking interviews in the field. We will discuss both how to plan for interviews and how to deal with the unexpected, and we will also discuss the various ways in which both the researcher and the interview participant can become vulnerable during the interview. In the third session we will explore questions of representation. How can we – ethically and rigorously – analyse and write up research conducted with vulnerable groups? Who are our most important audiences, and does this shape how we portray the people we are writing about?

Content warning: Throughout, the course will cover the experience and effects of different forms of trauma. In particular, it will draw on examples from the lecturer’s own work conducting interviews with imprisoned men convicted of sex offences. More specific details about content warnings will be added to the moodle by the beginning of Lent 2022 and will also be discussed at the beginning and end of each session. If any potential attendees of this seminar have any concerns or questions, please do contact the lecturer on amani2@cam.ac.uk.

NB. NOTES FOR INTERESTED STUDENTS

The course content for this year is under construction and will change. While the focus of the course will remain the same, the balance of the content between two types of analysis will change and hands-on tasks added to the curriculum.

The module will introduce students to the study of language use as a distinctive type of social practice. Attention will be focused primarily on the methodological and analytic principles of conversation analysis. (CA). However, it will explore the debates between CA and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as a means of addressing the relationship between the study of language use and the study of other aspects of social life. It will also consider the roots of conversation analysis in the research initiatives of ethnomethodology, and the analysis of ordinary and institutional talk. It will finally consider the interface between CA and CDA.

Topics:

• Session 1: The Roots of Conversation Analysis
• Session 2: Ordinary Talk
• Session 3: Institutional Talk
• Session 4: Conversation Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis

Open Source Investigation for Academics is methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, Social Sciences Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

NB. Places on this module are extremely limited, so please only make a booking if you are able to attend all of the sessions. Open Source Investigation for Academics is a methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, the Social Science Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

This module introduces the time series techniques relevant to forecasting in social science research and computer implementation of the methods. Background in basic statistical theory and regression methods is assumed. Topics covered include time series regression, Vector Error Correction and Vector Autoregressive Models, Time-varying Volatility, and ARCH models. The study of applied work is emphasized in this non-specialist module. Topics include:

• Introduction to Time Series: Time series and cross-sectional data; Components of a time series, Forecasting methods overview; Measuring forecasting accuracy, Choosing a forecasting technique
• Time Series Regression; Modelling linear and nonlinear trend; Detecting autocorrelation; Modelling seasonal variation by using dummy variables
• Stationarity; Unit Root test; Cointegration
• Vector Error Correlation and Vector Autoregressive models; Impulse responses and variance decompositions
• Time-varying volatility and ARCH models; GARCH models

This module introduces the time series techniques relevant to forecasting in social science research and computer implementation of the methods. Background in basic statistical theory and regression methods is assumed. Topics covered include time series regression, Vector Error Correction and Vector Autoregressive Models, Time-varying Volatility, and ARCH models. The study of applied work is emphasized in this non-specialist module. Topics include:

• Introduction to Time Series: Time series and cross-sectional data; Components of a time series, Forecasting methods overview; Measuring forecasting accuracy, Choosing a forecasting technique
• Time Series Regression; Modelling linear and nonlinear trend; Detecting autocorrelation; Modelling seasonal variation by using dummy variables
• Stationarity; Unit Root test; Cointegration
• Vector Error Correlation and Vector Autoregressive models; Impulse responses and variance decompositions
• Time-varying volatility and ARCH models; GARCH models

This course provides an introduction to the management and analysis of qualitative data using Atlas.ti. It is divided between pre-recorded lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant strategies and techniques, and hands-on live practical sessions in Zoom, in which you will learn how to analyse qualitative data using the software.

The sessions will introduce participants to the following:

• consideration of the advantages and limitations of using qualitative analysis software
• setting-up a research project in Atlas.ti
• use of Atlas.ti's menus and tool bars
• importing and organising data
• starting data analysis using Atlas.ti’s coding tools
• exploring data using query and visualization tools

Please note: Atlas.ti for Mac will not be covered.

This module is for students who don’t plan to use quantitative methods in their own research, but who need to be able to read and understand published research using quantitative methods. You will learn how to interpret graphs, frequency tables and multivariate regression results, and to ask intelligent questions about sampling, methods and statistical inference. The module is aimed at complete beginners, with no prior knowledge of statistics or quantitative methods.

This course introduces students to some of the legal issues around academic research involving personal data, and walks them through securing their research by conceptualizing and then assessing possible risks, followed by examining different ways to reduce those risks. This is delivered in a practical and non-technical way although there are some terms to do with risk assessment which may be unfamiliar to them. For this reason there is a relevant glossary provided for each session.

This module is an introduction to ethnographic fieldwork and analysis and is intended for students in fields other than anthropology. It provides an introduction to contemporary debates in ethnography, and an outline of how selected methods may be used in ethnographic study.

The ethnographic method was originally developed in the field of social anthropology, but has grown in popularity across several disciplines, including sociology, geography, criminology, education and organization studies.

Ethnographic research is a largely qualitative method, based upon participant observation among small samples of people for extended periods. A community of research participants might be defined on the basis of ethnicity, geography, language, social class, or on the basis of membership of a group or organization. An ethnographer aims to engage closely with the culture and experiences of their research participants, to produce a holistic analysis of their fieldsite.

Session 1: The Ethnographic Method What is ethnography? Can ethnographic research and writing be objective? How does one conduct ethnographic research responsibly and ethically?

Session 2: Visual Anthropology This session outlines the relation of ethnographic film to anthropology and ethnographic knowledge generally, looks at some examples of contemporary ethnographic film practice, and inquires into the possible utility of photography and video recording in the research process of ethnographic fieldwork in general. We continue the prior session’s consideration of some of the epistemological, theoretical, social, and ethical considerations that tend to arise around use of these audiovisual recording technologies in anthropological fieldwork and analysis.

Session 3: Ethnography and/as Audio Shortly after the phonograph was invented, ethnographers began using audio recording to document the cultural practices they were researching. For some, it has served as a kind of scientific tool to gather evidence and generate archives of linguistic, musical, and other sonic practices; for many others, it has served as an essential tool for interviewing about any topic; and for other still, audio recording and re-composition offer new possibilities of what ‘writing culture’ means. What are the consequences of using audio recording in fieldwork? And what are the technical, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of doing so?

Session 4: Relationships in the Field Ethnographic methodology and participant observation often involve researchers’ positioning in existing networks of social relations. This session is meant to help attendees manage interpersonal relationships with research participants from academic, political, and ethical perspectives. We will discuss when and why relationships in ethnographic fieldwork can be a reason for concern. We will reflect on the social distinctions that emerge when doing fieldwork with other people and their effects on researchers’ decision-making process. Finally, we will think through different fieldwork strategies when working with others, and how they impact the production of ethnographic knowledge.