Quantitative Research Methodology - Period 1

This course teaches the theory and practice of quantitative research methods frequently used within communication science. The student learns the logic and purpose of experimental and observational research designs, as well as the advantages and disadvantages in terms of internal and external validity. Within the context of causal modelling, spurious relations, mediation and moderation will be discussed and results of analyses will be related to these causal models. Reliability analysis is applied in order to learn how to construct a reliable scale. Building upon the first year's course Descriptive and Inferential Statistics, multivariate data analysis techniques will be introduced, focusing on analysis of variance and linear regression analysis. All mentioned techniques are applied using SPSS.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.