The RCBN
is undertaking a series of seminars around the UK intended to stimulate
discussion and awareness of the relatively simple role of numbers
in educational and, more specifically, teaching and learning research.
These
seminars are flexible in length and structure, and can be tailored
for different audiences. Such audiences might be practitioners, policy-makers
and other consumers of research evidence.
They
might be novice researchers including research students and fellows,
researchers looking to extend their awareness of work involving numbers,
or to combine numeric datasets into their existing work, or researchers
who are critical of current work involving numbers. They might be
the existing methods teachers and trainers in your institution, from
whom feedback would be particularly valuable. Or, indeed a mixture
of all of these.
The event
could coincide with a departmental seminar, staff training day, or
individual research project meetings.
The seminars
will be organised and delivered by the TLRP Research Capacity Building
Network with input from Professor Stephen Gorard, Professor Ken Prandy
and Karen Roberts. This input will be tailored, but selected from
a longer discussion paper that we would also make available to attendees
(see below).
Role
of Numbers Discussion Board
To join in further discussions about some of the issues raised in the
Role of Numbers Seminars please visit the Role
of Numbers Discussion Board. We hope that the discussion board will
facilitate a continued discussion around a number of themes, such as
the use of statistical tests on non-random datasets.
Are
you interested in hosting such a seminar?
If you would be happy to host such an event (of perhaps two hours
duration, but at your discretion), then please let us know by email
(Gorard@cf.ac.uk), or telephone (029 2087 5345). We would meet all
incidental expenses involved, including provision of tea/coffee and
biscuits. All we ask of you is a room for this to take place, and
a willingness to advertise the session in your institution, and beyond
in nearby HEIs, schools or colleges.
Are
you interested in attending such a seminar?
The table below shows locations and dates for organised seminars.
If you would like to come along to one of these seminars, please complete
and return an RCBN Booking
Form.
Paper
The
paper includes the following sections:
- The
need for all researchers, indeed all concerned citizens, to be able
to read and critique research involving numbers
- A re-consideration
of the nature of measurement, and of the danger of pseudo-measurement
- The
importance of proportionate reasoning
- The
rhetorical power of numbers
- A variety
of common situations in which numbers are misunderstood
- How
it is possible to overcome some of this misunderstanding by simple
re-expression of problems
- What
a simple statistical test is used for
- How
the role of statistical tests has been exaggerated in traditional
methods courses
- High-quality
data is more important than complex methods of analysis
- The
value of a narrative and numbers approach
For
a copy of the paper that accompanies this seminar entitled 'An
Introduction to the simple role of numbers in social science research'
click
here.
Dates
and places
| Place |
Date |
Time |
| School
of Education, Middlesex University |
22
January 2003 |
4.00pm |
| Curriculum,
Evaluation and Management Centre (CEM Centre), University of Durham |
29
January 2003 |
2.00pm |
| School
of Education, UWIC |
4
February 2003 |
4.30pm |
| Faculty
of Education, Manchester University |
7
February 2003 |
1.00pm |
| Oxford
Brookes |
12
February 2003 |
1.30pm |
| Institute
of Education, Sussex University |
20
February 2003 |
1.30pm |
| Faculty
of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University College |
25
February 2003 |
2.00pm |
| Institute
for Education Policy Research (IEPR), Staffordshire University |
5
March 2003 |
pm |
| School
of Education, Southampton University |
7
March 2003 |
10.45am |
| Institute
of Education, University of London |
7
March 2003 |
11.00am |
| School
of Education, Leicester University |
TBA |
TBA |
| Faculty
of Education, UWE |
TBA |
TBA |
| City
University, Northampton Square, London |
20
October 2003 |
4.30pm
- 6.00pm |
| Staffordshire
University (for research students) |
6-8
February 04 (date TBC) |
TBA |
|
