About this Event
Please note: this event takes place over two days and is a hybrid event. Please read carefully before registering for this event.
Dates
Wednesday 13th May, 9:30-12:00 and 1:30-4:00, Scrymegeour building, University of Dundee or online
Thursday 14th May, 9:30-12:00 and 1:30-4:00, Scrymegeour building, University of Dundee or online
Are you a PhD student planning a quantitative or mixed-methods study and unsure how to move from a good research idea to a clear, defensible study plan? Do concepts like power analysis, analysis planning, or pre-registration feel intimidating or underexplained? Are you interested in developing transferable research skills that apply across disciplines? This Spring into Methods workshop is designed for you. Across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, doctoral researchers increasingly use surveys, experiments, secondary data, and quantitative analyses to address important questions about people, culture, policy, and society. Yet many researchers receive limited formal training in how to plan studies transparently - specifying hypotheses in advance, justifying sample sizes, or clearly documenting analytic decisions. These gaps can make research harder to interpret, harder to reproduce, and harder to defend to reviewers, funders, or supervisors.
This interactive, hands-on workshop provides practical training in transparent quantitative research design, focusing on the skills needed to plan credible and well-powered studies. Using R and open-science tools, participants will learn how to translate conceptual research questions into testable hypotheses, conduct power analyses, build structured data-analysis plans, and complete a draft pre-registration for their own research. No advanced coding experience is required - templates and step-by-step guidance are provided throughout. Whether you are planning your first quantitative study, refining a preregistration, or looking to strengthen the transparency and credibility of your research, this workshop will equip you with practical tools you can use throughout your PhD and beyond.
What you’ll gain
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
• Understand how to move from research questions to clear hypotheses and analytic models
• Conduct and interpret power analyses using R
• Draft a transparent data-analysis plan aligned with their research aims
• Complete a draft pre-registration suitable for OSF or journal submission
• Gain confidence engaging with contemporary open-science and transparency standards
Workshop structure
The event runs over two days and combines short lectures, live demonstrations, guided exercises, and small-group discussion, led by Dr Taylor Hill. Participants will actively work on their own projects, supported by the teaching team and peer feedback.
Accessibility & format
• In-person or online attendance
• Highly interactive, learning-by-doing approach
• Reusable templates and materials provided
• Suitable for doctoral researchers across disciplines
• Basic familiarity with datasets and statistics is helpful, but no advanced methods background is required.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Scrymgeour Building, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
