Department of Management

7SSMM405 Research Methods for the Public Services

M.Sc. in Public Services Policy & Management

Module Handbook 2014/15

I. Module Details

Staff Contact details

Dr. Jean Ledger [JL], FWB

Telephone: 020 7848 4536, Email: jean.ledger@kcl.ac.uk

Prof. Christian Heath [CH], FWB/G.57

Telephone: 020 7848 4496, Email: christian.heath@kcl.ac.uk

Dr. Sónia Gonçalves [SG], FWB/G.104a

Telephone: 020 7848 4066, Email: sonia.goncalves@kcl.ac.uk

Module outline
This module is intended to provide a working knowledge of basic methods and principles of
qualitative and quantitative research used in the social sciences. Lectures will provide an
introduction and explanation of the theoretical underpinnings whilst tutorials will cover the
practical application of these methods to “real” problems and data.

Module objectives
By the end of this module you should have developed the following skills that you will be
required to demonstrate during your assessments:

• The ability to formulate researchable problems in order to conduct independent

research (i.e. your M.Sc. thesis proposal)
• An understanding of the basic principles of research design and alternative research
methodologies
• The ability to source or collect primary or secondary “data”
• Competence in a range of qualitative and quantitative data analysis tools
• An ability to communicate and disseminate research findings to both technical and
non-technical audiences

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 • Confidence to critically analyse published (and unpublished) work that use research
methods

Assessment
Your final grade for this module is based on one take-home short exam (10%) and one piece
of coursework (90%).

The take-home short exam will assess only the quantitative part of the module and will be
handed in to students on Thursday 27th of November (and made available on KEATS as
well). Answers to the short-exam questions are to be sent directly to your lecturer, via email
(sonia.goncalves@kcl.ac.uk), by the end of the day on Thursday 4th December 2014.

The coursework accounts for 90% of your final mark and consists of a 3,000-word
assignment that covers both qualitative and quantitative methods. Past coursework examples
can be found on KEATS.
The coursework will be circulated after reading week in November and is due by Friday 23rd
January 2015 at 10am.
Two hardcopies of the coursework must be submitted to the MSc. Administrator (Will
McGeough) in FWB G.105 and an electronic copy must be submitted via Turn It In.
Please see Section 5.8 of the MSc. Handbook for the rules and procedures regarding
submission, word count and academic misconduct.

KCL e-learning site

Materials (lectures, tutorial notes and readings) will be posted on KEATS:
http://keats.kcl.ac.uk/

Schedule
The module will be taught via a weekly two-hour lecture (Thursdays 1-3pm) in FWB 3.52
followed by a one-hour tutorial (4-5 or 5-6pm). You will be assigned to one of the two
tutorial groups for the entire term. Please see student boards for information about tutorial
groups.

In week 6, during reading week, there will not be any lectures or tutorials. However, students
will have the chance to attend a refresher course in mathematics and statistics. Attendance to
this course is optional, but students who have not studied / worked with mathematics and/or
statistics for a long time (or ever) are strongly advised to attend.

Further details about the module’s schedule are provided in the table below.

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Week DATE: Topic Lecture Tutorials
[Lecturer]

Introduction to Research Methods 1-3pm

1. 25 Sept No tutorial in week 1
[SG & JL] FWB 3.52

Group 1: 4-5pm
Qualitative methods 1 1-3pm
2. 2 Oct Group 2: 5-6pm
[JL] FWB 3.52
FWB 1.13

Group 1: 4-5pm
Qualitative methods 2 1-3pm
3. 9 Oct Group 2: 5-6pm
[JL] FWB 3.52
FWB 1.13

Group 1: 4-5pm
Qualitative methods 3 1-3pm
4. 16 Oct Group 2: 5-6pm
[CH] FWB 3.52
FWB 1.13

Group 1: 4-5pm
Qualitative methods 4 1-3pm
5. 23 Oct Group 2: 5-6pm
[CH] FWB 3.52
FWB 1.13

27-31 Reading week: maths & stats refresher (optional)

6.
Oct Time & location t.b.a.

Group 1: 4-5pm
1-3pm
7. 6 Nov Quantitative methods 1 Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

Group 1: 4-5pm
1-3pm
8. 13 Nov Quantitative methods 2 Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

Group 1: 4-5pm
Quantitative methods 3 1-3pm
9. 20 Nov Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

Group 1: 4-5pm
Quantitative methods 4 1-3pm
10. 27 Nov Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

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 Group 1: 4-5pm
Quantitative methods 5 1-3pm
11. 4 Dec Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

Group 1: 4-5pm
Quantitative methods 6 1-3pm
12. 11 Dec Group 2: 5-6pm
[SG] FWB 3.52
FWB 2.84

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 II. Course Outline & Readings

Week 1 (26th Sep): Introduction to Research Methods [SG & JL]

The aim of this lecture is to introduce you to the lecturers, course outline and assessment
method, as well as to discuss the role and objectives of qualitative and quantitative research
methods in PSPM.

Core Readings:
R Dahrendorf (1968) Values and Social Science. In Dahrendorf. Essays in the Theory of
Society. Stanford University Press

For an overview of qualitative methods and research design:

Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (2005)’ Introduction: The discipline and practice of
qualitative research’. In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. SAGE –pp.1-29

Blaikie, N. (2010) ‘Chapter 2: Designing Social Research’ in Designing Social Research:

The Logic of Anticipation (2nd Ed.) Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 35-55

For an overview of quantitative methods:

Agresti, A. and Barbara Finlay (2009) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 4th
Edition, Pearson International. Chapter 1

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 1
[In addition, chapters 2-3 of this textbook will be also very useful for students struggling with
descriptive statistics, which we look into more detail in the second half of the module]

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Week 2 (2nd Oct): Collecting qualitative data: Interviewing, surveys, focus groups and
conducting case studies [JL]

This session will explain how different types of research interviews, surveys, focus groups and
case studies can be used as methods for collecting qualitative data. The session will examine
underlying assumptions relating to these methods (epistemological issues) and practical
matters relating to ways of carrying out these methods (pragmatic and ethical issues). We will
explore: Research design and sampling; defining a case study; gaining and maintaining access
to organizations and individuals; conducting research ethically; data management. For
example, how do we select which qualitative method(s) to use, who might we interview, what
questions should we ask etc?

Core readings:
Atkinson and Coffey (1997) ‘Analysing Documentary realities’. In Silverman, D. (Ed.)
Qualitative Research. Sage (pages 45-62).

Fontana, A. & Frey, J. (2005) ‘The Interview’. In Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds) The
Handbook of Qualitative Research. SAGE (pages 695-728)

Finch. H. and Lewis, J. (2003) ‘Focus Groups.’ In Ritchie J. and Lewis, J. Qualitative Research
Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers, SAGE (pages 170-198)

Stake, R. (2005) ‘Qualitative Case Studies’. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds) The
Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage (pages 443-466)

Also recommended:

“Philosophy of Science Underlying Engaged Scholarship” from Van de Ven, Andrew.H.,

(2007) Engaged Scholarship: A Guide for Organizational and Social Research, pp. 36-70
(OUP) [Available digitally via the KCL Library:]

“Chapter Two: Focusing and Bounding the Collection of Data”, from Miles and Huberman
Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (2nd edition), pp. 16-39 (SAGE
Publications)

Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2007/2011) ‘Business Research Methods’. Oxford University Press

Gubrium, J. F., Holstein, J. A., Marvasti, A.B. and McKinney, K.D. (2012) The SAGE
Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of Craft (2nd Ed.), SAGE [Especially Part 3
– ‘Logistics of Interviewing’]

Rubin, H & Rubin, I. (2005) ‘Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data’. Sage

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Jansen H., (2010) "The Logic of Qualitative Survey Research and its Position in the Field of
Social Research Methods Forum Qualitative Social Research" 11(2) - available online
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1450/2946#g2

Flyvbjerg, B. (2006) ‘Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research’, Qualitative

Inquiry, 12: 219

Yin, R. 2003, Case Study Research - Design and Methods (Third Edition), Sage

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Week 3 (9th Oct): Analysing qualitative data 1 [JL]

Building on the previous week, this lecture will outline different ways of analysing qualitative
research, including grounded theory, thematic analysis and case study analysis. How can we
analyse stories and narrative? How can we code, display and compare qualitative data? What
software can be used to help organise data? How can we analyse and begin to theorise single
and comparative case studies?

Core readings:

Charmaz, K. (2005) ‘Grounded Theory in the 21st Century: Applications for Advancing Social
Justice Studies’ in Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds) The Handbook of Qualitative Research.
SAGE, (pages 507-536)

Perakyla, A. (2005) ‘Analysing Talk and Text’, in Handbook of Qualitative Research, eds.
Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y., Sage, (pages 869-881)

Eisenhardt, K. (1989) ‘Building Theories from Case Study Research’, Academy of

Management Review, 14(4): 532-550

Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A. M. “Early Steps in Analysis”, in Miles and Huberman
Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (2nd edition), pp. 50-89 (SAGE
Publications)

Also recommended:

Altheide, D.L. and Johnson, J.M. (2011) ‘Reflections on Interpretive Adequacy in Qualitative
Research’ in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research / edited by Norman K. Denzin,
Yvonna S. Lincoln. [4th ed.] SAGE, pp. 581-594

Spencer, L., Richie, J. and O’Connor, W. (2003) ‘Analysis: practices, principles, and
processes’ in Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and
Researchers, SAGE, 199-218

Klag, M. and Langley, A. ‘Approaching the Conceptual Leap in Qualitative Research’

International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 15, 149–166 (2013)

Golden-Biddle, K., and Locke, K. (1997). Composing Qualitative Research. London: SAGE
Ltd.
Corbin, J. & Straus, A. (2007) ‘Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures
for Developing Grounded Theory’. SAGE

Gabriel, Y. (1998) ‘The Use of Stories’. In Symon, G. & Cassell, C. (Eds.) Qualitative Methods
and Analysis in Organizational Research. SAGE

Pentland, B, (1999) ‘Building process theory with narrative: From description to explanation’,
Academy of Management Review, 24(4): 711-724

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Week 4 (16 Oct): Fieldwork and Ethnography [CH]

There is a substantial corpus of influential qualitative studies of practice, work and

organisation that are founded on field studies and ethnography. In this and the following
week, we will examine the principal forms of data collection and analysis associated with
field studies and explore the methodological principles that underpin these forms of
qualitative research. In the first week, we will focus on field work and in particular
observation, and explore how to undertake field work, record and classify observations, and
consider the ways in which field observations and associated data can be subject to detailed
scrutiny and analysis. Classes will involve data sessions in which students will be expected to
examine materials and develop observations and insights.

Core Readings:

Heath, C., Pettinari, C. Luff, P. and Jirotka, M. (2003) Notes Towards an Applied Ethnography

Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Goffman, E. (1999) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Harmondsorth London: Penguin

Supplementary readings:

Clark, C. and T. Pinch (1995) The Hard Sell: The Language and Lessons of Street Wise
Marketing. New York: Harper Collin

Blumer, H. S. (1962) Society as Symbolic Interaction. Human Behaviour and Social Processes.
ed. A. M. Rose. London, Routledge Kegan Paul: 179-192

Kunda, G. (2006). Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a High-Tech Corporation

(2nd Edition). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. (Chapter 5)

Hochschild, A. R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling. London,

University of California Press

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Week 5 (23rd Oct): Qualitative Analysis 2: Workplace Studies, Language and Interaction
Ethnography [CH]

There is a growing corpus of qualitative studies that focus on the situated and interactional
accomplishment of organisational activities; research that is having significant impact on both
research and practice. These field studies are primarily based on the detailed analysis of audio
and audio-visual recordings of work, organisation and practice. In this lecture and classes we
discuss the ways in which video, augmented by field-studies, can be used to gather data on
everyday activities, and to subject social action and interaction to detailed and systematic
scrutiny. We also consider how these fine-grained studies are used to inform policy and
practice. The classes will involve data analysis workshops.

Core Readings:

Heath, C.C. Hindmarsh, J. & P. Luff (2010) Video in Qualitative Research: Analysing Social
Interaction in Everyday Life London: Sage

Heritage, J.C. (2010) Conversation Analysis: Practices and Methods. In Silverman, D.

Qualitative Research. 3rd Edition. London: Sage 208-230

Knoblauch, H., Schnettler, B., Raab, J., & Söffner, H.-G. (eds.). (2006). Video-Analysis:
Methodology and Methods Qualitative Audiovisual Data Analysis in Sociology. Frankfurt am
Main: Lang-Verlag

Supplementary readings:

Drew, P. & J.C. Heritage (1992) Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press

Heath, C.C. & P. Luff (2000) Technology in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2011) Business Research Methods, Oxford: Oxford University
Press (Chapter 20)

Streeck, Jürgen, Charles Goodwin & Curtis D. LeBaron (eds) 2011 Embodied Interaction in
the Material World Cambridge. Cambridge University Press

Garfinkel, Harold. 1967. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall

Goffman, E. (1983) The Interaction Order. American Sociological Review, 48, 1-17


Sacks, Harvey (1992). Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Blackwell

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Week 6 (27-31st Oct): Reading Week – Maths & Stats Refresher (optional)

This short programme covers basic mathematics and statistics and should be a refresher of
pre-GCSE material. It will include basic mathematical operations (e.g. division), basic
mathematical notation, fractions, percentages, ratios, series, powers, simple algebraic
equations (e.g. the equation of a straight line), understanding and interpreting information in
graphs, tables and charts (e.g. gradients), describing and displaying data including measures
of central tendency (mean, mode and median) and spread (variance and inter-quartile range),
and the normal distribution.
If you are still struggling with this material then the following readings, available from the
FWB library, should help:

Rowntree, D. (1981) Statistics Without Tears, Penguin. Chapters 2-4 & 8. [This has been
reprinted many times and any edition will do]

Steinberg, W. J. (2008) Statistics Alive, Sage. Chapters 1-6 & 34-6

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Week 7 (6th Nov): Introduction to quantitative methods [SG]

This lecture will be an introduction to quantitative research methods. We will mainly focus
on descriptive statistics: why do we use them and how they are calculated. We will cover
different measures of centrality, dispersion and position.
We will also discuss the meaning and relevance of confidence intervals as an introduction to
inferential analysis.
The first tutorial will consist of an introduction to the statistical software we will use in this
module: SPSS.

Core Readings:

Agresti, A. and Finlay, B. (2009) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences. 4th Edition,
Pearson International. Chapters 3 and 5

Dewberry, C. (2004) Statistical methods for organizational research: Theory and practice,
Routledge: London. Chapters 1 and 2 (up to page 34) [E-book available from KCL
library]

Recommended for Tutorials:

Dewberry, C. (2004) Statistical methods for organizational research: Theory and practice,
Routledge: London. Chapter 4.

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapters 1-2

About SPSS:
The use of statistical software is necessary to complete some of the homework assignments
and part of the coursework. Instructions will be provided for SPSS although students are free
to use any software of their choice. All PAWS terminals in College have SPSS installed and
you should be able to access SPSS through your KCL “Global Desktop”. Further you can
download SPSS to install on your home PC or Mac from the KCL Software Distribution
website: https://softdist.kcl.ac.uk/

The following reading will help students to become familiar with SPSS and will aid students
in producing descriptive statistics in SPSS:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapters 3-4

Two recommended online resources for SPSS are:

UCLA Academic Technology Services: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/
Texas A&M University Statistics Department: http://www.stat.tamu.edu/spss.php

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Week 8 (13th Nov): The simple regression model [SG]

After reviewing descriptive measures of bivariate relationships (covariance and correlation)

we introduce the linear regression model which is the workhorse of most applied statistics in
the social sciences. We will go over the intuition behind linear regression and the
interpretation of regression coefficients. We will also discuss issues of estimation and
uncertainty. Discussion of uncertainty allows us to make inferences about population effect
parameters based upon a sample.

Core Readings:

Agresti, A. and Barbara Finlay (2009) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 4th
Edition, Pearson International. Chapter 9

Stock, J.H. and Mark M. Watson (2012) Introduction to Econometrics, International

Edition, 3rd Edition, Pearson. Chapters 4 (pages 149-163) & 5 (pages 186-197)

Also recommended:

Baddeley, M. C. and Barrowclough, D. V. (2009) Running Regressions, Cambridge

University Press: Cambridge. Chapters 1 & 2

For the tutorials:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 4 (pages
116-126) [scatter plots]; Chapter 6 ( pages 175-178) [correlations]; Chapter 7 (pages 197-
209) [simple regression]

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Week 9 (20th Nov): Multiple Linear Regression [SG]

This lecture introduces the multiple linear regression model where we have two or more
independent variables. We discuss the interpretation and statistical significance of regression
coefficients in multiple regression and introduce interaction effects between independent
variables. Transformations of independent variables (mean-differencing and standardization)
to make interpretation easier are also discussed.

Core Readings:

Agresti, A. and Barbara Finlay (2009) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 4th
Edition, Pearson International. Chapters 10 &11

Stock, J.H. and Mark M. Watson (2012) Introduction to Econometrics, International

Edition, 3rd Edition, Pearson. Chapters 6 (pages 221-237), 7 (pages 256-263, 271-282), 8
(pages 316-328)

Also recommended:

Baddeley, M. C. and Barrowclough, D. V. (2009) Running Regressions, Cambridge

University Press: Cambridge. Chapters 4 & 5

For the tutorials:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 7 (pages
209-221) [multiple regression]; Chapter 4 (pages 119-121, 126-128) [grouped scatter &
graph edition]

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Week 10 (27th Nov): Non-linear models [SG]

This lecture discusses non-linear regression functions. In particular, we will look at models
with logarithms and polynomials. We will also go over some approaches to modelling data
which may help you to build a more appropriate model.

Core Readings:

Agresti, A. and Barbara Finlay (2009) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 4th
Edition, Pearson International. Chapter 14 (pages 462-473)

Stock, J.H. and Mark M. Watson (2012) Introduction to Econometrics, International

Edition, 3rd Edition, Pearson. Chapter 8 (pages 294-316), Chapter 9

Also recommended:

Baddeley, M. C. and Barrowclough, D. V. (2009) Running Regressions, Cambridge

University Press: Cambridge. Chapter 3

For the tutorials:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 5 (pages
156-160)

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Week 11 (4th Dec): OLS Assumptions and Violations [SG]

This lecture introduces the assumptions of linear regression model which make it the Best
Linear Unbiased Estimator. We then discuss the ‘diseases’ that occur when these assumptions
do not hold, the diagnosis and the cure.

Core Readings:

Stock, J.H. and Mark M. Watson (2012) Introduction to Econometrics, International

Edition, 3rd Edition, Pearson. Chapter 5 (pages 164-169, 197-208), Chapter 6 (pages 238-
247) & Chapter 9

Also recommended:
Baddeley, M. C. and Barrowclough, D. V. (2009) Running Regressions, Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge. Chapters 6-8

For the tutorials:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 7 (pages
223-252)

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Week 12 (11th Dec) Difference-in-differences and Instrumental Variables [SG]

This lecture focuses on two alternative quantitative research methods that are commonly use
in public policy evaluation: differences-in-difference and instrumental variables.

Core readings:

Stock, J.H. and Mark M. Watson (2012) Introduction to Econometrics, International

Edition, 3rd Edition, Pearson. Chapters 10 (pages 389-40) & 12 (pages 461-471 and 479-
495)

Also recommended:

Wooldridge, J (2007) Difference-in-Difference, NBER Summer School. Available from:

http://www.nber.org/WNE/lect_10_diffindiffs.pdf

For the tutorials:

Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition, Sage. Chapter 19

Gelman, A., Pasarica, C., and Dohia, R. (2002) Let’s Practice What We Preach: Turning
Tables into Graphs, Statistical Computing and Graphics, 56(2): 121-130

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