Wednesday, 12 February 2020

Case Studies

There is a persistent idea that case studies cannot be used for undergraduate research - I recommend this paper as a rebuttal of common arguments supporting this idea. Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research Bent Flyvbjerg Full reference: Bent Flyvbjerg, "Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research," Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 219-245. DOI: 10.1177/1077800405284363 Link to published article: http://qix.sagepub.com/content/12/2/219.abstract also at https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1304/1304.1186.pdf

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

Software

https://www.graphpad.com/scientific-software/ Instat statistics software https://www.graphpad.com/scientific-software/instat/ https://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ Basic free statistical analyses of Categorical data - Fisher's, Chi square, McNemar's, Sign test, CI of proportion, NNT (number needed to treat), kappa. Continuous data - Descriptive statistics, detect outlier, t test, CI of mean/difference/ratio/SD, multiple comparisons tests, linear regression. Statistical distributions and interpreting P values - Calculate P from t, z, r, F or chi-square, or vice-versa. View Binomial, Poisson or Gaussian distribution. Correct a P value for multiple comparisons and Bayes. Random numbers - Assign subjects to groups, simulate data. Chemical and radiochemical data - Create and convert molar solutions, convert moles & grams, radioactivity calculations.

Statistics resources

(Electronic Version): StatSoft, Inc. (2013). Electronic Statistics Textbook. Tulsa, OK: StatSoft. http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/. Printed Version): Hill, T. & Lewicki, P. (2007). STATISTICS: Methods and Applications. StatSoft, Tulsa, OK. StatSoft has freely provided the Electronic Statistics Textbook as a public service since 1995. I recommend: http://www.statsoft.com/Textbook/Basic-Statistics http://www.statsoft.com/Textbook/Nonparametric-Statistics http://www.statsoft.com/Textbook/Distribution-Tables

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

That's it

The book is now with the publishers waiting for their decision. More news if things go ahead I guess!

Friday, 14 March 2014

Simple statistics recommended text

Here is one of the friendliest texts books on stats

Simple Statistics: A Course Book for the Social Sciences (Paperback)
by Frances Clegg
13 Jan 1983
ISBN-10: 0521288029
ISBN-13: 978-0521288026

From Amazon



From Abe books
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Simple+Statistics%3A+A+Course+Book+for+the+Social+Sciences

Friday, 14 February 2014

LinkedIn

Some students have found LinkedIn really useful for finding contacts - I'm on here too! :) uk.linkedin.com/pub/liz-laycock/27/106/572/

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Google scholar alerts

This has just been drawn to my attention - http://googlescholar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/google-scholar-alerts.html

Monday, 13 February 2012

InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing

InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing
Steinar Kvale & Svend Brinkmann
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; Second Edition edition (4 Sep 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0761925422
Date: 2008

Friday, 9 December 2011

Friday, 21 October 2011

(DON'T) Sell your dissertation!

No - DON'T!

The following reasons why you should NOT sell your work are outlined here
SHU 2001 Intellectual property policy [online] available from
https://students.shu.ac.uk/rightsrules/othercodesandpolicies/it/19.html
[accessed 21/10/2011 and subject to change]

"Students are treated in a similar manner to staff in respect of ... ownership and management of IPR created while a registered student at the institution. By virtue of the University's Student Terms and Conditions in force from time to time, the University shall take assignment of ownership of IPR generated... [where work is]... created by a Student of the University as part of an assessment procedure, whether formal or informal, pursuant to their selected programme of study... the physical article may be returned to the Student, while the underlying IP remains with the University."

In effect SELLING YOUR DISSERTATION is in breach of the Intellectual Property Rights of the University you studied for - as well as being a REALLY BAD IDEA since you will be held resposible for the supply in the event that someone uses it to cheat. This may mean YOU loosing your degree [this can be done for severe breaches of academic conduct].

From the SHU Rules and regulations site;
"Collusion: this is where a student undertakes work with others, without
acknowledgement, e.g.
 knowingly permits another student to copy all "

AND ALSO NOTE (from SHU Rules and Regulations site)
"Cases of alleged cheating identified after work has been formally assessed and/or after an award has been conferred will be investigated in accordance with the above procedures and may result in a reconsideration of a decision previously taken. This may lead to the withdrawal of an award or the award of credit that has already been conferred."

Friday, 23 September 2011

Databases for Management topics

Emerald - http://www.emeraldinsight.com/

Ingenta - http://www.ingentaconnect.com/

Zetoc - http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/

Sconul - for occasional use of other libraries

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/using_other_libraries/

SCONUL operates various cooperative schemes to help users of one library make occasional use of another. The list below will show you if you might benefit. (Some schemes listed are not actually run by SCONUL but include many of our member libraries.)

Government Reports UK

DirectGov website
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm

Evaluating currency of Web sites

From http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les1/

Full tutorials on evaluating web sites based on key areas
Purpose
Author
Content
>Bias
>Coverage
>Currency:
Recognition


Diagram 'Graphic representation of Key Ideas' from Ohio State University 2008

Reference
Ohio State University 2008 OSU Libraries Evaluating Web Sites. [online]http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les1/ [last accessed 23/9/2011] net.TUTOR © 1997-2008, The Ohio State University Libraries

Lecturer Musings

We are almost ready to run with the 2011/12 lecture series. All around me are heaps of course booklets and lecture notes.

I'm already fielding e-mails from keen students - but I appreciate for many that the first few weeks are pretty tough!

The way that my Dissertation module runs here at SHU means that the first few weeks give students time to firm up a project idea, doing some literature searching and getting some guidance from me before they get their supervision tutors. It makes it a pretty hectic first month for me - but it pays back dividends for students and supervisor staff over the 2 semesters and seems to work!

I'll be covering the general reseach skills and setting weekly targets to try and keep everyone to schedule for the proposal side of the work at least... and in my copious spare time (!) I will be continuing to work on the book.. more news here as it heads towards v0.1!

My aim for lectures this year (I try and improve something each time)
"I am going to try and be an extra 10% more inspirational this year than last year!"
Let me know if I suceeded :)

Thursday, 21 July 2011

The good research guide for small-scale social research projects

Denscombe, M
2010
The good research guide for small-scale social research projects
4th ed.
Maidenhead: Open University Press / McGraw Hill
978-0-335-24138-5



Suggested reading
Chapter 12 Documents p216-234
Chapter 14 Qualitative Data p272-306