Administrivia



Course basics

What: Quantitative Research Methods (i271b)

When: Fall 2010, Tuesday and Thursday, 11AM - 12:30PM

Where: 205 South Hall

Instructor: Prof. Coye Cheshire (coye@ischool)

TA: Erin Knight (eknight@ischool)

Office hours  

Tues 2:00-3:30 pm, 305A South Hall (Coye) 

Monday 12:30 to 2 pm, 2 South Hall (Erin)


Course description

The goal of this course is to provide students with an introduction to many different types of quantitative research methods and statistical techniques. This course will be divided into two sections: 1) methods for quantitative research and, 2) quantitative statistical techniques for analyzing data. We begin with a focus on defining research problems, theory testing, causal inference, and designing research instruments. Then, we will explore a range of statistical techniques and methods that are available for empirical research. Topics in research methods include: Primary and Secondary Data Analysis, Sampling, Survey Design, and Experimental Designs. Topics in quantitative techniques include: Descriptive and Inferential statistics, General Linear Models, and Non-Linear Models. The course will conclude with an introduction to special topics in quantitative research methods.


Course assignments and final exam

There are four short "lab assignments" in this course. Some of these will be completed individually; others will be completed in small groups. The assignments will be distributed during the lab sections (combined total of 40% of final grade). The final take-home exam will cover all of the major topics in the course (research methods, data management and analysis techniques, statistical analysis and interpretation). This exam will account for 50% of the final grade. Finally, a portion of your grade (10%) will come from regular attendance, class participation, and instructor discretion. That is:

  • Lab Assignments (4 total): 40%
  • Final Take-Home Exam: 50%
  • Participation and Instructor discretion: 10%

Course readings

This course will use a combination of a textbook, a reader, and handouts. Students are expected to do the readings before each class. This is important in every class, but in a methodology course it is absolutely essential. There are parts of the lectures that will not make sense if you do not do the readings in advance.


Course software

An important part of working with quantitative research methods involves the use of statistical software. Students in this course should purchase a student license for the "intercooled" (IC) version of STATA 10. It costs $65 for 6-month license, $95 for a one-year student license or $155 for a perpetual license.

Use the following link to order STATA (IC version!!).  You will then be notified when it is ready and you can pick it up across campus in Haviland Hall.

http://stata.com/order/new/edu/gradplans/gp-campus.html

You may also use the open-source statistics package R, but it can be substantially more difficult to use and often poorly documented, so if you choose to use R, we cannot provide assistance in figuring out how to do the operations we demonstrate in STATA.


Mailing list

The class mailing list is i271b@ischool.berkeley.edu. If you have an iSchool account, you can subscribe yourself to the list via the iSchool Intranet.

Alternatively, you can subscribe any address (not just an iSchool one) by sending email to majordomo@ischool.berkeley.edu with the line "subscribe i271b" (minus the quotation marks) in the body of the message. You will then have to respond to an authentication email to complete your subscription — this is a safeguard against other people subscribing you to mailing lists without your consent.


Useful links