A small, free course in quantitative methods for teacher students

Last autumn, I was in charge of the quantitative part of a course in theory of science and research methods for teacher education students (MGVM4100) at OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all lectures were turned into digital format, and I made a series of smaller videos instead of a few long ones. The videos were published on YouTube. But only today (half a year later) have I had the time to provide all the videos with subtitles. That means that the videos should make sense for people no matter what language they prefer (via YouTube's automatic translation) - although the text in the slides used are mostly in Norwegian.

The students are supposed to read Peter M. Nardi's book "Doing Survey Research", 4th edition. That is a very good book, in my opinion, but the examples there are not from education (for instance science education). My videos are based on teaching the course a couple of times before, and my aim has been to give enough background in quantitative methods for the students to relate to quantitative methods in their work as teachers as well as in their work on previous research when doing their master thesis. Moreover, I hope they will have a foundation that will make it reasonable easy to study further if they want to use quantitative methods in their own research in their master thesis. As far as I have been able, I have used examples from different school subjects, and also created my own examples based on real data. By showing how things can be done in SPSS, I also hope to demystify that, so that students dare to use SPSS if they need to. Still, the course is not a SPSS course per se.

• Introduction: 0 0 Kvantitativ metode: Innledning

Uke 1

• Introduction first week: 1 0 Kvantitativ metode: Innledning uke 42 
• Central concepts: 1 1 Kvantitativ metode: Sentrale begreper
• Making a survey: 1 2 Kvantitativ metode: Å lage spørreskjema
• Sample and research design: 1 3 Kvantitativ metode: Utvalg og forskningsdesign
• Descriptive statistics: 1 4 Kvantitativ metode: Deskriptiv statistikk
• Hypothesis testing: 1 5 Kvantitativ metode: Hypotesetesting
• Normal distribution and Z-test: 1 6 Kvantitativ metode: Normalfordeling og Z-test
• Example: School Emphasis on Academic Success: 1 E1 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel: Læringstrykk
• Example: Reliability: 1 E2 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel reliabilitet
• Example: Survey: 1 E3 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel spørreskjema
• Example: Sample: 1 E4 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel på utvalg 

Uke 2

• Introduction second week: 2 0 Kvantitativ metode: Innledning uke 43
• Bivariate analysis: 2 1 Kvantitativ metode: Bivariate sammenhenger
• Example 1: Chi-square: 2 E1 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel 1: Kjikvadrat
• Example 2: Chi-square: 2 E2 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel 2: Kjikvadrat
• Compare means: 2 2 Kvantitativ metode: Sammenlikne gjennomsnitt
• ANOVA: 2 3 Kvantitativ metode: ANOVA
• Example: ANOVA: 2 E3 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel på ANOVA

Uke 3

• Introduction third week: 3 0 Kvantitativ metode: Innledning uke 44
• Two-way ANOVA: 3 1 Kvantitativ metode: Toveis ANOVA
• Multiple R: 3 2 Kvantitativ metode: Multippel R
• Multiple regression: 3 3 Kvantitativ metode: Multippel regresjon
• The last phase of a project: 3 4 Kvantitativ metode: Sluttfasen av et prosjekt
• Repetition: 3 5 Kvantitativ metode: Repetisjon
• Example: Multiple regression: 3 E1 Kvantitativ metode: Eksempel: Multippel regresjon

Of course, this is just a first, short course in quantitative methods. Many would have prioritized this in another way. But I still hope the videos may be of use to some. 

 

Of course, there will also be errors in the videos. So far, my 400 students have just found one error: that is in the video about Hypothesis testing, and there is a correction in the description of the video on YouTube as well as in the subtitles.

Feel free to let me know if you have had use of the videos or if you have other input. (I am thinking of making videos about effect sizes - as my videos are as of know only occupied with significance. I am also considering more info on scales, on SEM and perhaps also on the racism involved in the beginning of the history of quantitative methods.)