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Quantitative Research Skills 1 - EDU00014C

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  • Department: Education
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: C
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2024-25

Module summary

The aim of this module is to provide the foundations for students’ study of more complex designs later in the degree. Students will be introduced to quantitative research methods skills commensurate with the study of psychology in education. This will include an introduction to quantitative research methods alongside a range of descriptive and inferential statistics. The module plays an important part in developing students' critical and analytical skills that can be applied to learning in other modules.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

The aim of this module is to provide the foundations for students’ study of more complex designs later in the degree. Students will be introduced to quantitative research methods skills commensurate with the study of psychology in education. This will include an introduction to quantitative research methods alongside a range of descriptive and inferential statistics. The module plays an important part in developing students' critical and analytical skills that can be applied to learning in other modules.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module students will be able to:

  • Describe a range of quantitative research designs appropriate for the study of psychology in education.

  • Describe and use a range of descriptive statistical techniques, including calculating means and standard deviations using appropriate statistical analysis software.

  • Explain the principles of Null-Hypothesis significance testing and the process of choosing an appropriate statistical test.

  • Describe and use a range of bivariate statistical tests (e.g., chi-square and t-tests) using appropriate statistical analysis software.

Academic and graduate skills

Students will have learned how to:

  • Design and implement common instruments and methods for data collection in psychology of education through interactive workshops, practical sessions and computer-based lab sessions.

  • Analyse datasets using appropriate statistical tests.

  • Report the results of quantitative data analysis in an appropriate format.

  • Use the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) website, appropriate statistical software, and the Internet effectively.

Module content

The following is indicative of the different topics that will be covered:

  • Introduction to quantitative methods.

  • Descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion).

  • Introduction to Null-Hypothesis significance testing and central limit theorem

  • Confidence intervals, the sampling error.

  • Chi-square tests.

  • Simple tests of differences: t-tests and their non-parametric equivalents.

  • Correlations: Pearson’s and Spearman’s.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 50
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) 50

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 50
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) 50

Module feedback

Individual written feedback reports, with follow-up tutor meeting, if necessary. The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.

Indicative reading

Coolican, H. (2017). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Psychology Press.

Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th Ed.). Sage.

Harrison, V., Kemp, R., Brace, N., & Snelgar, R. (2020). SPSS for Psychologists. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS. Routledge.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.