Course Description and Objectives

Honors 301: Preparation for Graduate/Professional Studies (Quantitative Methods, 1 credit)

Honors students explore quantitative research, considering the historical context and reviewing the scientific method. Topics include characteristics of effective research, formulating a hypothesis, research design, collecting and interpreting data, communicating results and making recommendations. Students consult with their advisors (or another academic mentor) during this course on details of proposals, such as summer research projects. Students have opportunities to visit graduate schools in the region.

Objectives include the following:

1. Become familiar with key terms in statistics including "mean," "median," "mode," "standard deviation," "margin of error," and "T-test."

2. Be able to recognize the function of that terminology in analyzing quantitative data.

3. Understand the differences between types of data (quantitative, qualitative, qualitative-quantitative).

4. Understand the differences between types of field research (true experiment, quasi-experiment, correlation analysis, etc.) and the appropriate situations for using each.

5. Be able to judge the validity and reliability of simple research designs.

6. Know the basic formats for writing up, reporting, and presenting quantitative data.