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Does sociology count: student attitudes to the teaching of quantitative methods

Williams, Malcolm David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4540-5784, Payne, Geoff, Hodgkinson, Liz and Poade, Donna 2008. Does sociology count: student attitudes to the teaching of quantitative methods. Sociology 42 (5) , pp. 1003-1021. 10.1177/0038038508094576

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Abstract

The research reported here is from the first national survey of British undergraduate attitudes to the methodological character of the discipline and specifically to quantitative methods.The study found that most sociology students saw their subject as closer to the humanities than the sciences. However, whilst as anticipated many students expressed anxiety about quantitative methods and ‘number’, a slight majority nevertheless expressed no such anxiety. The methodological issue for sociology is perhaps less to do with a numeric deficit and more to do with a lack of student interest in the use of quantitative methods. It may be concluded that the views held by present undergraduates do not augur well for a methodologically pluralist discipline in the future, or more generally for key numeric and analytic skills sociology graduates can bring to other professions and occupations.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Uncontrolled Keywords: methodological pluralism; numeracy; quantitative methods; science; sociology; curriculum
Publisher: Sage
ISSN: 0038-0385
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2022 08:17
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/27833

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