Foundational Statistical Methods

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Present quantitative research findings appropriately.
• Apply the concepts of statistical hypothesis tests.
• Choose and apply appropriate statistical techniques to analyse data.
• Interpret the related effect size, confidence interval and P value.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The difference between the various types of data and how to choose between them.
• The difference between the various summary statistics and graphical displays, and how to choose between them.
• The difference between the various statistical techniques, know when to apply them, how to justify the choice of technique and be able to report the results to a publication standard.
• The fundamental principles of statistical inference and hypothesis testing.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use the statistical software package SPSS to set up a database, enter data, create and manipulate variables and analyse data.
• Identify, extract and interpret the key results from SPSS output.

• Types of data
• Descriptive statistics and graphical presentation
• Sampling from a population
• Hypothesis testing and confidence intervals
• Analysing data with continuous and categorical outcomes
• Correlation
• Linear and logistic regression
• Sample size
• Statistical writing
• Data handling, manipulation and statistical analysis in SPSS

Teaching and learning methods

A variety of methods are used including lectures, reference to online resources, interactive tools for learning and self-assessment, SPSS computer demonstrations and practical SPSS exercises using computers.

Assessment strategy

The assessment includes both formative and summative elements. The formative assessments are SPSS exercises that are self-directed. There are two summative assessments: an online multiple choice quiz (MCQ) and a written data analysis report. The pass mark for the summative written data analysis report and the module is 50%. You must also pass the online MCQ quiz by achieving a mark of 90% or above. If you fail the MCQ quiz you are allowed to take it again until you pass within the specified time period. If you fail the module, you will have the opportunity to submit work at the next referral (re-sit) opportunity. On passing your referral, your final module mark will be capped at 50%.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Practical assessment

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: Self-assessed against the worksheets with full instructions and answers
• Final Assessment:
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.