Introductory statistics courses in bachelor’s degree programs
in higher education are often challenging to both teachers and learners. In
2012 our institution launched a bachelor’s degree program in Market and
Management Anthropology (MMA), a field of study in which qualitative research
plays a vital role.
Quantitative methods are regarded as a supplement to the
armada of anthropological tools such as participant observation or informal and
structured interviews. This makes the design and conduct of an introductory
course in statistics even more challenging. In this paper I discuss the
curriculum, the lecturing, the exercises and software used, and the assessment
form for this new target group of students.
Despite the qualitative nature ofthe bachelor’s degree program in MMA, a basic understanding of what statisticscan (and cannot) do is essential. The curriculum turned out to be almost the
same as that for any other introductory course in statistics, say, one for
economics students. However, a stronger focus on nonparametric techniques is
meaningful.
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