Aims

The course should allow the students : - to take a first contact with the process of a research in human sciences; - to discover the theoretical principles and the concrete application of the tools of descriptive statistics; - to develop the skill to use the treatment, the interpretation or the presentation of quantitative data; - to give sense to the data used or built. The course is tackled in a perspective of critical appropriation of the tools.

Main themes

Presentation of the descriptive statistics inside the whole research process
Basic notions : population, individual, variable, size, frequency distribution, proportions, percentages, growing rate, cues. Technique to gather the data in classes, levels of measurement and graphical representations of the distributions. Tools for central measure and dispersion, and law of normality. The various types of variables and the relations between variables. Research of relevant data and their integration into an analytical process.

Content and teaching methods

Content
Initiation to the theoretical principles and to the concrete application of the tools of descriptive statistics : basic notions, technique to gather the data in classes, levels of measurement and graphical representations of the distributions. Tools for central measure and dispersion, and law of normality. The various types of variables and the relations between variables. Research of relevant data and their integration into an analytical process.
Method
Lectures based on examples and various illustrations in sub-groups.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation : Appropriation of the basic tools of descriptive statistics and their integration in a specific work; work in sub-groups during the learning, but individual evaluation of the knowledge.
It follows educational methods fitted for adults including the link between theory and practice, group work, formative assessment and steps of individual and group appropriation of the contents. Illustrations from the various fields of education and from adults formation : continuous education, specialized education, school field, etc.

Programmes in which this activity is taught