Statistical tools

are software applications to examine an observable phenomena using statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. These are used also in mixed or multi methods studies for validating instruments, analysing patterns, supporting interpretation and providing evidence for research findings. Statistical tools and methods help researchers to provide meaning to the meaningless numbers.

Tools

  • G-Power is a tool to compute statistical power analyses for many different t tests, F tests, χ2 tests, z tests and some exact tests

  • ANOVA – Analysis of variance uses the same conceptual framework as linear regression

  • SPSS – Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, is a software package used for interactive or batched, statistical analysis.

  • CHIC – Cohesive Hierarchical Implicative Classification is a data analysis tool based on SIA (Statistical implicative analysis). Its aim is to discover the more relevant implications between states of different variables.

References

Basic statistical tools in research and data analysis

General Statistical Resources

  • Statpages: Web pages that perform statistical calculations statpages.info Great general reference with lots of interactive pages. Links to online statistical pages. Worth browsing the intro page to see all the available resources.

  • Reading Statistics and Research www.readingstats.com Companion website for the book: Huck SW. Reading Statistics and Research 6th edition. Boston: Pearsons, 2012: The website has lots of quizzes and resources to work through. The “Misconceptions” section is good to help solidify key concepts.

  • Open Epi: Open Source Epidemologic Statistics for Public Health www.openepi.com Tool bar makes this easy navigate. Has sample size calculator as well as many other resources.

  • Rice University Virtual Lab in Statistics onlinestatbook.com/rvls.html

  • Hyperstat: statistics “book” with links to other stat sites; simulations and demonstrations: lots of visuals to explain concepts; case studies with some medical examples; and analysis lab demonstrates how to work with data.

  • Statistics to use www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats Covers common statistical tests and concepts. Good graphics to illustrate points.

  • Simple Interactive Statistical Analysis www.quantitativeskills.com/sisa Allows you to conduct statistical analysis directly in the program. Good to give you a feel for how the different statistical tests work.

  • CDC: Epi Info Home Page www.cdc.gov/EpiInfo Free downloadable software for handling data sets, conducting surveys. Has sample size calculator as well.

  • Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics plus search any stats term you are looking up

Resources for finding statistics on diseases and demographics

  • CDC: Data and Statistics www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics Links to scientific data on statistics and scientific laboratory data.

  • National Center for Health Statistics www.cdc.gov/nchs Provides national health, morbidity, and mortality statistics and offers free access to specific data warehouses.

Survey research tools

are useful for generating data at scale using a list of questions. It aims at extracting specific data from a particular group of people.

Forms and survey tools are commonly used for research, improving process, identifying needs and providing recommendations. Survey research is often used to assess beliefs, thoughts, opinions, behaviours and feelings.

Some of the most popular survey research tools are:

  • Qualtrics

  • Survey Monkey

  • Google Forms

  • SoGoSurvey

  • Typeform.

  • Zoho Survey

  • Survey Gizmo

  • Survey Planet

Academic Search Engines

support users in an academic setting for finding and accessing articles in scientific journals, institutional repositories, archives and databases, including collections of scientific articles.

These tools are useful for research, which includes exploring trends, developing literature review, building ideas and supporting claims.

In Education, STEM, Social Science, and transdisciplinary topics we have been using:

COnnecting REpositories (CORE)

IEEE Xplore (IEEE)

ERIC: Educational Resource Information Center

PsycINFO (APA)

SciELO (FAPESP, CNPQ)

Scopus and Science Direct (Elsevier)

SpringerLink (Springer)

Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)

WorldWideScience (WWS Alliance)

Knowledge Mapping

refers to techniques and technologies to portray knowledge of individuals, communities and networks. It can include perspectives of users, sources, flows, constraints and knowledge within an organisation. It is a navigation aid to both explicit and tacit knowledge, showing the importance and the relationships between knowledge, sources and dynamics.

Platforms:

CMap tools

FreeMind

Nestor Web Cartographer

Compendium

MindMap

MindMeister

LucidChart

LiteMap

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concept-_and_mind-mapping_software

Video-conferencing

refers to technologies for the reception and transmission of audio and video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real time. It implies the use of a synchronous platform for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals.

The most popular platforms became popular from 2000 for providing high quality low-cost colour service between users almost any place in the world where the Internet is available.

Some of the platforms used by our network are

FlashMeeting (2003 – 2018)

Skype (2003 – present)

WhatsApp (2009 – present)

Zoom (2013 – present)

Google Hangouts (2013 – 2017)

Google Meet (2017 – present)

MicrosoftTeams (2017 – present)

AdobeConnect (2018 – present)

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software

http://kmi.open.ac.uk/technologies/name/flashmeeting-technology

td-net toolbox

The methods and tools offered by the td-net toolbox specifically focus on jointly developing projects, conducting research and exploring ways to impact in heterogeneous groups. They are intended to help shape collaboration between experts and stakeholders from science and practice in systematic and traceable ways.

Methods and tools for co-producing knowledge

This web portal offers a point of entry to widespread methods and tools for collaboration between experts and stakeholders from science and practice for tackling real-world, context-sensitive societal challenges.

When targeted at tackling societal challenges, inter- and transdisciplinary research involves varying points of view, interests or political goals. Ways of how research can be societally relevant need to be identified. Specific tools that help to deal with these challenges and shape collaboration between experts and stakeholders from science and practice in systematic and traceable ways are therefore needed.

The resources provided in this portal are contributed by experts from the international community of transdisciplinarians and related academic fields.

Explore methods and tools for co-producing knowledge

You can search for methods using process phases, key issues, the list of methods compiled in our own toolbox or related toolboxes:

https://naturalsciences.ch/topics/co-producing_knowledge/methods/td-net_toolbox

Science Shop Toolbox

The Science Shop Toolbox helps Science Shops provide independent, participatory research support in response to concerns experienced by civil society. The toolbox provides information on how to build strong and meaningful partnerships between community-based and university-based researchers. It offers a set of documents and a database that bring together relevant information on Science Shop procedures, processes and guidelines. The toolbox can empower new Science Shops in developing professional standards and enable existing Science Shops in refining and improving their practices through updated professional know-how. It also facilitates the exchange of good practices across different countries, incorporating the experiences and needs of new and potential European partners.

Science Shops as a way of transferring knowledge are innovative and effective and have a positive impact both on research and on civil society.

A Science Shop (is a unit that) provides independent participatory research support in response to concerns expressed by civil society. CSO members can participate as a researcher themselves, or the CSOs perform the whole research, with some methodological support from researchers. Through Science Shops, CSOs have a direct say on the course of the research (or ‘the research agenda’) and are allowed full access to and use of the results.

Source: https://www.livingknowledge.org/fileadmin/Dateien-Living-Knowledge/Dokumente_Dateien/Toolbox/LK_B_Sparks_Handbook_Extract_Guidelines_Pop-up_Science_Shop.pdf

The toolbox offers a database of downloadable documents with hyperlinks to other documents in the database. These offer relevant documentation on Science Shop procedures, processes and guidelines, grouped in the following categories:

  • A. community-based research methods

  • B. Science Shop administration

  • C. public awareness

  • D. preparing a Science Shop project

  • E. carrying out a Science Shop project

  • F. writing/publication of a Science Shop project.

The tools and documents under A and C can also be useful for researchers and educators, while those under B, D, E and F are specifically for science centres. Because Science Shops do not have one typical structure, specific needs will vary depending on local situations (e.g., sources of funding, time horizons).

Currently, some of the toolbox links are not functional, and the listed tools are not summarized. As part of the relaunch of the Living Knowledge website, the toolbox may be revised. Some of the tools in the database can be used to facilitate RRI, whereas others, such as Science Shop administration tools, may have little to no direct influence on RRI.

Living Knowledge: the International Science Shop Network.

http://www.livingknowledge.org/resources/toolbox/

This toolbox service will empower new Science Shops and people working in community based research in developing professional standards and enable existing Science Shops to refine and improve their practice through professional know-how. The database brings together relevant documentation on Science Shop procedures, processes and guidelines. Please send us a message, if you wish to contribute to the toolbox.

Visit also our Library including a list of good reads related to Science Shops, videos and project reports

Content

1 – Organisational Elements of Science Shops a. General b. Organisational Forms c. Financing a Science Shop d. Staffing a Science Shop e. Training and Mentoring for Science Shops 2 – Implementing a Science Shop Project – Methodological Elements a. Preparation b. Implementation c. Evaluation & Reporting d. Financing a project e. Case studies / examples 3 – Manuals, Tools, Guides a. Community Based Research b. Other Participatory Methods & Formats 4 – Working in / with Higher Education a. Working with students b. Working with academic staff c. Working with stakeholders d. Policy and curricula development e. Teaching and training resources for Higher Education staff 5 – Science Shops and the Policy Context a. EU / Swafs b. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) & Science Shops 6 – Communication and Public Awareness a. Communication b. Networks

Wheel of Open Science practices

refer to a set of research actions as part of an Open Science workflow, covering preparation, discovery, analysis, writing, publication, outreach and assessment. 

These examples of open science practices were prepared for and collected at several workshops in 2016, with researchers, funders, publishers, citizen scientists, librarians, university administrators, tool and platform developers, government officials, and other stakeholders in scholarly communication. 

Practices are also available as fileset with separate images, and editable powerpoint slides.

This ‘Wheel of Open Science’ visualization is also available as editable pptx. All items are collected in the Figshare collection ‘Open Science practices’. 

A link to a Google sheet listing a larger collection of research practices (including all these open science practices) is provided.

 

The Wheel of Open Science practices is also available as interactive animation, developed by Bianca Kramer & Jeroen Bosman / This work is part of the project ‘Innovations in Scholarly Communication’ 

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4628014.v2

Public Engagement

This public engagement evaluation guide is designed for anyone, regardless of prior experience with public engagement or evaluation, who leads projects intended to engage with general audiences about science, social science, engineering and technology and the social, ethical and political issues that new research in these areas raises. It is also intended to help project managers evaluate individual projects. Besides detailing the evaluation process, it discusses important topics, such as what evaluation is about and how evaluation can help strengthen funding applications.

 

UK National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and Research Councils UK

 

Fast Track Impact

A common standard for evaluating public engagement with research: new paper by @profmarkreed with @NCCPE, @EngageQM & Dialogue Matters http://ingentaconnect.com/contentone/ioep/rfa/2018/00000002/00000001/art00013;jsessionid=whix95j1u9pw.x-ic-live-01

https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/do-engagement/evaluating-public-engagement

http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/publications/evaluationguide-pdf/

Professional Education Policies supported by RRI

Dr. Ana Rocha analysed the professional education system for secondary school students and investigated the educational policies of Bahia State in Brazil for promoting retention and success of disadvantaged students. The methodology was based on Responsible Research and Innovation in Education and centred on the disadvantaged students’ social representation of the value of professional learning in their lives.

This study was developed by Ana Karine Loula Torres Rocha under the supervision of Dr. Okada.

Dr. Rocha holds a doctoral and master degree both in Education and Contemporaneity from UNEB – University of Bahia; post-graduation in Quality Management in Education and Distance Education, Bachelor in Business Administration and Mathematics.

Dr. Rocha is Assistant Professor at the State University of Bahia, DCHT – Irece/ Bahia and lecturer for more than 10 years, in undergraduate and postgraduate courses; Coordinates the specialisation course in Management of Educational Organizations; Coordinated the Undergraduate Program in Distance Administration / Irece / Bahia by UNEB; Member of the Sectoral Commission for Institutional Evaluation of DCHT – Campus XVI; Member of the Departmental Council.

She is a research member of the COLEARN – Open University and the Network Society, Cultural Plurality and Educational Digital Content. She is also the leader of the GENTTES Research Group: Research Group on Labor, Education, Management and Technologies. Her research interests include the areas of technology, e-learning, knowledge mapping, collaborative networks, work, education, public policy.

News:

An inspiring conference for the majority of science educators

Team:

Dr. Sonia Pinto, Dr. Silvar Ribeiro, Dr. Okada

Projects:

ENGAGE, CONNECT

Publication:

Okada, A.; Rocha, A. K. L. T..; Fuchter, S.; Zucchi, S. and Wortley, D. (2019). Formative assessment of inquiry skills for Responsible Research and Innovation using 3D Virtual Reality Glasses and Face Recognition. In: Technology Enhanced Assessment Conference (TEA 2018): Revised Selected Papers (Draaijer, Silvester; Joosten-ten Brinke, Desirée and Ras, Eric eds.), Communications in Computer and Information Science, pp. 91–101.

Rocha, A. K. L. T. (2018). Educação Profissional na Bahia: Representações Sociais dos Egressos no Território de Identidade de Irecê-Tii.

Rocha, A. K. L. T.; Rocha, A. B. L. T. and Okada, Alexandra (2018). Rubric to Assess Evidence-Based Dialogue of Socio-Scientific Issues with LiteMap. In: Technology Enhanced Assessment 20th International Conference, TEA 2017: Revised Selected Papers (Ras, Eric and Guerrero Roldán, Ana Elena eds.), Communications in Computer and Information Science, Springer, Cham, pp. 137–149.

Okada, Alexandra; Rocha, A. K. L. T. Whitelock, Denise; Furchter, Simone and Zucchi, Sangar (2017). Peer​ ​Learning​ ​And​ ​Assessment-in-Context​ ​With​ ​3D​ ​Immersive​ ​Glasses. In: 7th European Immersive Education Summit (EiED 2017), 16-19 Nov 2017, Lucca and Pisa, Italy.

Okada, Alexandra and Rocha, A. K. L. T. (2017). Responsible Research and Innovation for Contemporary Education. In: The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference, 25-27 Oct 2017, Open University Milton Keynes (UK).