Description
Liam teaches social policy, sociology and social work at the University of Sheffield. After graduating in Social Policy and Administration at the University of Leeds he undertook an MA in Social and Public Policy, also at the University of Leeds, before completing a PhD on Gender, Pensions and the Life Course at the University of Sheffield in 2006. Following the completion of his PhD Liam was appointed as a lecturer in social work at the University of Sheffield. Much of Liam’s research continues to focus on inequalities in later life and policy implications, particularly in relation to pensions. He has liaised with the Labour Party, Trade Unions, the European Parliament and pension providers and published extensively in this area. Liam is also interested in theories of ageing including the political economy of ageing and the implementation of active ageing policy and has recently published (with Professor Alan Walker) (eds) (2014) with Edward Elgar. Liam employs a variety of methods in his research which inform his teaching, including secondary data analysis. He has been teaching social research methods to students in the social sciences for approximately ten years with a particular focus on quantitative methods. He has also developed quantitative teaching resources for teachers in the social sciences and written about teaching social research methods. Introduction: Are Statistics Relevant to Real Life? Data and Table Manners Graphs and Charts Averages and Percentiles Spreads Transforming Data The Normal Distribution From Samples to Populations Getting Confident Fun with Proportions How to Decide How to Decide More Tricky Decisions Correlation and Regression Analysing Tables with Categorical Data Conclusion Appendix 1 Statistical Tables Appendix 2 Answers to Practice Questions Appendix 3 Algebra and Mathematical Notation Explained
