2134/16910
Paola Signoretta
Paola
Signoretta
Martyn Chamberlain
Martyn
Chamberlain
John Hillier
John
Hillier
‘A picture is worth ten thousand words’: a module to test the ‘visualization hypothesis’ in quantitative methods teaching
Loughborough University
2015
Quantitative methods
Statistics
Visualization
Teaching
Geographic information systems
Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified
2015-03-06 11:12:30
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/_A_picture_is_worth_ten_thousand_words_a_module_to_test_the_visualization_hypothesis_in_quantitative_methods_teaching/9474347
Inadequate quantitative methods (QM) training provision for undergraduate social science
students in the United Kingdom is a well-known problem. This paper reports on the
design, implementation and assessment of an induction module created to test the
hypothesis that visualization helps students learn key statistical concepts. The induction
module is a twelve-week compulsory unit taught to first year social science students at a
UK university, which they complete prior to a more traditional statistical, workshop-based
QM module. A component of the induction module focuses on the use of visualization
through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to teach the process of hypothesis
generation to students while they also are introduced to the basics of QM research design
and univariate and bivariate forms of data analysis. Self-reflexive evaluation indicates that
visualization could assist students with more advanced QM statistical skills.