Teaching with Data in the Social Sciences, St. Louis, Missouri, 2020-2021 (ICPSR 38841)

Version Date: Jun 26, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
Jennifer Moore, Washington University in St. Louis; Dorris Scott, Washington University in St. Louis; Christie Peters, Washington University in St. Louis; Jessica Kleekamp, Washington University in St. Louis

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38841.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Ithaka S+R study Teaching with Data in the Social Sciences (TDSS) built on Ithaka's S+R's ongoing research program to investigate teaching practices and support needs across multiple disciplines within higher education. The goals were to understand teaching of foundational skills necessary for success in a data-driven world; how to help students achieve data literacy; how to facilitate finding datasets; and identifying tools to help students manipulate, understand, and visualize data. Twenty institutions contributed to the overall project. This collection contains project data from Washington University in St. Louis. The university research team conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 instructors who, at the time of study, taught with data to undergraduates in the social sciences (Anthropology, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, History, Business, Economics).

Citation

Moore, Jennifer, Scott, Dorris, Peters, Christie, and Kleekamp, Jessica. Teaching with Data in the Social Sciences, St. Louis, Missouri, 2020-2021. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-06-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38841.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Restrictions

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, this data collection is restricted from general dissemination. To obtain this file, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement in accordance with existing ICPSR servicing policies.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2020-05-01 -- 2021-10-31

Date of Collection

2020-07-01 -- 2021-01-31

Data Collection Notes

  1. This study is part of the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) Qualitative Data Sharing (QDS) project.

  2. ICPSR has zipped the 13 interview transcripts in a qualitative data package, which is available for restricted download.

  3. Please refer to the study report for the interview guide (Appendix A).

  4. For more information on Ithaka S+R, please visit the organization's website.
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Study Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate teaching practices and support needs of social sciences instructors who incorporate work with quantitative data into undergraduate-level courses.

Study Design

Ithaka S+R Teaching with Data in the Social Sciences (TDSS) project leaders provided the protocol and semi-structured interview guide to each university involved in the project to use in data collection. Individual interviews were conducted virtually via Zoom, with most lasting less than 60 minutes. Transcripts were extracted from Zoom, corrected in comparison with the recording, de-identified, and reviewed by the research team prior to analyses.

Using a grounded theory approach, the local research team identified primary and sub-themes that emerged from an initial sample of transcripts. Each team member then claimed a primary theme to code in all transcripts, using either Atlas.ti or NVivo for coding.

Sample

The local team at Washington University in St. Louis contacted key stakeholders on campus who worked in the social sciences to identify possible interview participants. Thirty-seven potential candidates were identified, then a list was created of fifteen instructors who best fit the desired candidate profile. Thirteen agreed to be interviewed.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Social science instructors teaching with quantitative data in undergraduate-level courses at the study site.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Questions for participants focused on four main topics:

  • Background experience in teaching undergraduates
  • How students obtain data for classroom use: processes they use to search for datasets, generate their own datasets, or accessing instructor-provided data, including any challenges
  • How students work with data: tools/software used, prerequisite knowledge required, knowledge explicitly taught by the instructor, teaching with data to meet discipline-specific goals and pedagogy, ethical challenges
  • Training and support: sources of support from others in obtaining or working with data, extracurricular learning opportunities for students, training outside of instructor's formal degree, types of training/assistance that would be beneficial

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Original Release Date

2023-06-26

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.