Summer School 2025 – Quantitative Case-Based Methods

Summer School 2025 – Quantitative Case-Based Methods

When: Tuesday 24 – Thursday 26 June 2025

Where: Winchester Royal Hotel

Facilitators:

White Horse Consultancy

 Professor Phil Haynes is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Emeritus Professor at the University of Brighton. Phil has worked for over thirty years in higher education research, teaching and management, including funded research with the ESRC, government agencies and private and voluntary organisations.

David Alemna is a Research Fellow at White Horse. David is a Consultant (Public Policy) at Inner City Fund (ICF) and a Teaching/Research Fellow at the University of Portsmouth. He has worked for over five years of teaching in UK higher education. In consultancy, he has also contributed to various evaluations and impact assessments for the European Commission and UK government agencies.

What: Join our summer school to apply quantitative case-based techniques to data analysis

We invite you to a three-day workshop to explore different forms of quantitative case-based methods, how these have developed, and to consider recent innovations and their applications for contemporary research topics.

Case based methods seek to give maximum attention to case diversity rather than aggregate, summaries of large groups of cases. For this reason, quantitative case-based techniques often use small samples (small n) more akin to qualitative designs. They are often used to compare spatial political areas and/or organisations.

Phil and David have developed an innovative quantitative case-based technique called Dynamic Pattern Synthesis (DPS).  DPS explores complexity in datasets and changing patterns. It finds stable patterns versus instability. It explores cases that cluster together versus those that are outliers and less like others. It analyses what variable patterns are associated with a specific cluster and allows for changes in these variable patterns over time and between clusters.

DPS evolves from previous work with cluster analysis and QCA, getting the best from both these techniques, and seeking a method that informs social and economic complexity and change alongside historical and contextual settings. Examples are comparisons of countries’ macroeconomic performance and social policies, and a comparison of local government financing during central government austerity.

On this course we will explore:

• different historical and contemporary case-based methods
• their similarities and differences and recent innovations
• the measurement of case comparisons with appropriate quantitative techniques.

We will include examples from: Cluster Analysis, Q Methodology (Q-Sort), Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), leading into the innovation of DPS. We will work together using R, plus some data manipulations and preparations in MS Excel. We will reflect on the relationship between case-based methods and mixed methods. There is the potential for a small element of Social Network Analysis (SNA) for occasional case-based graphical representations.

We will see if AI chat boxes can inform and speed up these analytical approaches. We will work on several example datasets. In the last session you will have the chance to try an analysis with your own small-n dataset, if you wish.

Who this is for

This workshop is for ESRC-funded doctoral researchers in the South Coast and other DTPs who:

• Have basic proficiency in R and R-Studio (e.g. setting up a working directory, installing packages, running scripts)
• Have previous experience in quantitative research (for example, on a social science PGT course that includes quantitative training)
• Are interested in mixed methods and alternative approaches to quantitative analysis
• Have an open, critical approach to traditional statistical methods and possibilities of AI.

No prior experience with case-based methods is required!

What you will need

• A laptop with R, R-Studio, MS Excel, and ChatGPT installed (If necessary, we can guide you to online information that will help you to do this in preparation).
• Willingness to explore new methods and engage in hands-on analysis
• (Optional) A small-n dataset to test the techniques with your own research data during the final session

 How to join

Places are limited. There are 15 places available for South Coast DTP students and 10 places available for students from other DTPs.

To register your interest, please complete the form on the link below by Monday 28 April 2025 at 5pm:

SCDTP Summer School Sign Up Form

 Please do not sign up for the summer school if you are not sure whether you can attend. Non-attendance has financial implications for the DTP, which is funded by UK tax payers. Late cancellations may result in a reduction of your available RTSG funding.