Cambridge Research Methods (CaRM) course timetable

This is an introductory course for students who have little or no prior training in statistics.

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions in which you will learn how to analyse real data using the statistical package, R.

You will learn:

• The key features of quantitative analysis, and how it differs from other types of empirical analysis
• The basics of formal hypothesis testing
• Basic concepts: what is a variable? what is the distribution of a variable? and how can we best represent a distribution graphically?
• Features of statistical distributions: measures of central tendency and dispersion
• The normal distribution
• Why statistical testing works
• Statistical methods used to test simple hypotheses

This is an introductory course for students who have little or no prior training in statistics.

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions in which you will learn how to analyse real data using the statistical package, Stata.

You will learn:

• The key features of quantitative analysis, and how it differs from other types of empirical analysis
• The basics of formal hypothesis testing
• Basic concepts: what is a variable? what is the distribution of a variable? and how can we best represent a distribution graphically?
• Features of statistical distributions: measures of central tendency and dispersion
• The normal distribution
• Why statistical testing works
• Statistical methods used to test simple hypotheses
• How to use Stata to create basic descriptive statistics and graphs

This is an introductory course for students who have little or no prior training in statistics.

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions in which you will learn how to analyse real data using the statistical package, R.

You will learn:

• The key features of quantitative analysis, and how it differs from other types of empirical analysis
• The basics of formal hypothesis testing
• Basic concepts: what is a variable? what is the distribution of a variable? and how can we best represent a distribution graphically?
• Features of statistical distributions: measures of central tendency and dispersion
• The normal distribution
• Why statistical testing works
• Statistical methods used to test simple hypotheses

Face-to-face interviews are used to collect a wide range of information in the social sciences. They are appropriate for the gathering of information on individual and institutional patterns of behaviour; complex histories or processes; identities and cultural meanings; routines that are not written down; and life-history events. Face-to-face interviews thus comprise an appropriate method to generate information on individual behaviour, the reasons for certain patterns of acting and talking, and the type of connection people have with each other.

The first session provides an overview of interviewing as a social research method, then focuses on the processes of organising and conducting qualitative interviews. The second session explores the ethics and practical constraints of interviews as a research method, particularly relevant when attempting to engage with marginalised or stigmatised communities. The third session focuses on organisation and analysis after interviews, including interpretation through coding and close reading.

In Lent Term, the online resources are supported by 1 x zoom Q&A session, and 2 x in-person workshops. During the first in-person workshop students will role-play interviews using the scenarios outlined in the course moodle pages. During the second in-person workshop students will work in pairs on their interview material (at whatever stage of the process: whether writing interview questions, coding or analysing data) in order to receive advice and support in taking the interview material/data to the next stage of the research process.

This is an introductory course for students who have little or no prior training in statistics.

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions in which you will learn how to analyse real data using the statistical package, R.

You will learn:

• The key features of quantitative analysis, and how it differs from other types of empirical analysis
• The basics of formal hypothesis testing
• Basic concepts: what is a variable? what is the distribution of a variable? and how can we best represent a distribution graphically?
• Features of statistical distributions: measures of central tendency and dispersion
• The normal distribution
• Why statistical testing works
• Statistical methods used to test simple hypotheses

The course focuses on practical hands-on variable handling and programming implementation using rather than on theory. This course is intended for those who have never programmed before, including those who only call/run Matlab scripts but are not familiar with how code works and how matrices are handled in Matlab. (Note that calling a couple of scripts is not 'real' programming.)

MATLAB (C) is a powerful scientific programming environment optimal for data analysis and engineering solutions. More information on the programme and its uses can be found here

This is an introductory course for students who have little or no prior training in statistics.

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions in which you will learn how to analyse real data using the statistical package, R.

You will learn:

• The key features of quantitative analysis, and how it differs from other types of empirical analysis
• The basics of formal hypothesis testing
• Basic concepts: what is a variable? what is the distribution of a variable? and how can we best represent a distribution graphically?
• Features of statistical distributions: measures of central tendency and dispersion
• The normal distribution
• Why statistical testing works
• Statistical methods used to test simple hypotheses

This course provides an introduction to the management and analysis of qualitative data using Atlas.ti. It is divided between mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant strategies and techniques, and hands-on live practical sessions, in which you will learn how to analyse qualitative data using the software.

The sessions will introduce participants to the following:

• consideration of the advantages and limitations of using qualitative analysis software
• setting-up a research project in Atlas.ti
• use of Atlas.ti's menus and tool bars
• importing and organising data
• starting data analysis using Atlas.ti’s coding tools
• exploring data using query and visualization tools

Please note: Atlas.ti for Mac will not be covered.

The course will provide students with an introduction to the popular and powerful statistics package Stata. Stata is commonly used by analysts in both the social and natural sciences, and is the statistics package used most widely by CaRM. You will learn:

• How to open and manage a dataset in Stata
• How to recode variables
• How to select a sample for analysis
• The commands needed to perform simple statistical analyses in Stata
• Where to find additional resources to help you as you progress with Stata

The course is intended for students who already have a working knowledge of statistics - it's designed primarily as a ""second language"" course for students who are already familiar with another package, perhaps R or SPSS. Students who don't already have a working knowledge of applied statistics should look at courses in our Basic Statistics Stream.

Open Source Investigation for Academics is methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, Cambridge Research Methods and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.

Please note that places on this module are extremely limited, so please only make a booking if you are able to attend all of the sessions.

Building upon the univariate techniques introduced in the Foundations in Applied Statistics (FiAS) module, these sessions aim to provide students with a thorough understanding of statistical methods designed to test associations between two variables (bivariate statistics). Students will learn about the assumptions underlying each test, and will receive practical instruction on how to generate and interpret bivariate results using Stata. It introduces students to four of the most commonly used statistical tests in the social sciences: correlation, chi-square tests, t-tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions, in which you will learn how to apply these techniques to analyse real data using the statistical package, Stata.

You will learn the following techniques:

• Cross-tabulations
• Scatterplots
• Covariance and correlation
• Nonparametric methods
• Two-sample t-tests
• ANOVA

As well as viewing the pre-recorded mini lectures via Moodle and attending the live lab sessions, students are expected to do a few hours of independent study.

Building upon the univariate techniques introduced in the Foundations in Applied Statistics (FiAS) module, these sessions aim to provide students with a thorough understanding of statistical methods designed to test associations between two variables (bivariate statistics). Students will learn about the assumptions underlying each test, and will receive practical instruction on how to generate and interpret bivariate results using Stata. It introduces students to four of the most commonly used statistical tests in the social sciences: correlation, chi-square tests, t-tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions, in which you will learn how to apply these techniques to analyse real data using the statistical package, Stata.

You will learn the following techniques:

• Cross-tabulations
• Scatterplots
• Covariance and correlation
• Nonparametric methods
• Two-sample t-tests
• ANOVA

As well as viewing the pre-recorded mini lectures via Moodle and attending the live lab sessions, students are expected to do a few hours of independent study.

Building upon the univariate techniques introduced in the Foundations in Applied Statistics (FiAS) module, these sessions aim to provide students with a thorough understanding of statistical methods designed to test associations between two variables (bivariate statistics). Students will learn about the assumptions underlying each test, and will receive practical instruction on how to generate and interpret bivariate results using R. It introduces students to four of the most commonly used statistical tests in the social sciences: correlation, chi-square tests, t-tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The module is divided between pre-recorded mini-lectures, in which you’ll learn the relevant theory, and in-person, hands-on practical sessions, in which you will learn how to apply these techniques to analyse real data using the statistical package, R.

You will learn the following techniques:

• Cross-tabulations
• Scatterplots
• Covariance and correlation
• Nonparametric methods
• Two-sample t-tests
• ANOVA

As well as viewing the pre-recorded mini lectures via Moodle and attending the live lab sessions, students are expected to do a few hours of independent study.