ELiSS Paper.pdf (398.08 kB)
Download file‘A picture is worth ten thousand words’: a module to test the ‘visualization hypothesis’ in quantitative methods teaching
journal contribution
posted on 06.03.2015, 11:12 by Paola Signoretta, Martyn Chamberlain, John HillierJohn HillierInadequate 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.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies