HIS 200 - Quantitative Research Methods for Humanities, 3 credit hours

Prerequisite(s): Core Math
This is a hands-on methods course that uses mathematics and quantitative reasoning skills to teach students how to design research, determine the feasibility and practicality of this research, and obtain, analyze, and interpret evidence from a variety of sources and disciplines. Students will use statistical analysis and mathematical reasoning to address larger issues in the humanities such as the types of sources most likely to provide useful data, the pros and cons of turning data into an index, generating new questions from descriptive statistics, identifying causation and designing experiments with historical data, the difference between a statistically significant difference and a stereotype, and using statistics to test a counterfactual contingent hypothesis. This class emphasizes research skills that are important to all fields in the humanities, and encourages critical thinking skills that will be useful in making intelligent and informed decisions as actively contributing members of society.