Teaching statistics in the context of social foresight. An applied approach based on the use of an open-source software. Issue 2 (11th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Giuliani, Diego; Dickson, Maria Michela; Espa, Giuseppe
• Editors: Roberto Poli, Dr
• Is Part Of: On the horizon. Volume 23:Issue 2(2015)
• Page Start: 140
• Page End: 148
• Publication Date: 2015-05-11
• Subjects: Teaching methods -- Open-source software -- Social foresight -- Statistics; Education, Higher -- Periodicals; 378.005
• DOI: 10.1108/OTH-02-2015-0010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1074-8121

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to present the contents and the didactic approach that characterize, respectively, the "Introductory Statistics withR " and "Statistics and Foresight" courses of the Master in Social Foresight. Design/methodology/approach: – The two courses "Introductory Statistics with R" and "Statistics and Foresight" are designed to provide an introduction to quantitative methods in the social sciences with specific applications to social foresight. In particular, the first course introduces students to data analysis providing the necessary tools to study and represent socio-economic phenomena through graphical summaries and numerical measures. During the course, example applications based on the use of the open-source softwareR are shown. At the end, the students should be able to perform data management, conduct descriptive analysis of categorical and quantitative variables and analyze bivariate distributions. The subsequent course "Statistics and Foresight" presents the most efficient methods to make decisions in a context of uncertainty while visualizing the potential errors of wrong decisions and computing the probability of their occurrence. Findings: – This paper is a description of an interesting and promising way of teaching applied statistics in social sciences. Practical implications: – With the main aim of learning the correct use of statistics, specific attention is devoted to the use and interpretation of the aforementioned methods rather than to their theoretical aspects. Even in the second course, an important role is played by the treatment of real data by the use of theR software. Originality/value: – This paper attempts to systematize a method of teaching statistics based on the practical use of open-source software.