Data Collection and Research Methods for Sustainability and Environmental Science

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Apply descriptive and inferential statistics to explore and identify features and relationships within data sets.
• Effectively utilise data and other evidence adopting correct statistical or qualitative practices.
• Be able to plan and implement a research project to solve a real-world problem.
• Produce and structure a quantitative or qualitative research report in the approved format.
• Have an awareness and practical knowledge of a range of quantitative and/or qualitative modes of scientific enquiry.
• Demonstrate understanding of further skills in quantitative research relevant for data science applications.

Part A

• Introduction to research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) and frontiers of quantitative research
• Introduction to R programming language and RStudio
• Exploratory data analysis – data types, descriptive statistics and data visualization
• Hypothesis testing and statistical significance
• Correlation, linear regression and time series regression
• Writing a quantitative report

Part B: Option I

Qualitative methods

• Introduction to qualitative methods (from positivism to humanism and beyond)
• Introduction to qualitative methods (ethics, rigour and visual methods)
• Qualitative methods – In the field and at the desk (ethnography, participant observation, fieldnotes, texts, discourse analysis)
• Qualitative methods – Interviews, focus groups, analysing talk data
• Writing a qualitative data report

Part B: Option II

Further quantitative methods

• Generalized linear models – binomial, Poisson and negative binomial regression
• Generalized additive models
• Resampling methods – cross-validation, the bootstrap and the jacknife
• Tree-based methods - decision trees, bagging and random forests
• Unsupervised learning – principal components analysis and cluster analysis
• Quantitative report using further quantitative methods

This module uses applied and participatory learning approaches to explore and instruct in data collection and research methods for Sustainability and Environmental Science. Sessions are designed to inform, inspire and give an opportunity for students to apply what they have learnt through problem-based qualitative and quantitative practical sessions. For seminar sessions on qualitative methods, students are provided with material to review in advance for staff-led group discussion, to further their understanding. Qualitative and quantitative statistical practical sessions are used to give hands-on application of the methods and best practice which students have been taught and lead into the assessments for the module.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.