Offered: Fall 2017
Instructor: Ryan Masters
Quantitative methods (i.e., statistics) are used often to answer important social questions. Sociologists, economists, political scientists, and other social researchers rely on large data sets built from surveys, censuses, and public opinion polls to describe and understand attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics of groups and populations. The purpose of this course is to better understand how researchers:
(1) survey, poll, or otherwise acquire survey-based data,
(2) store, manage, and edit these data
(3) apply quantitative methods to describe and explain patterns in survey data, and
(4) convey important results using tables, figures, and graphics.
The skills you learn in this course will help you understand how data are acquired, stored, and analyzed, and may transfer to future workplaces (i.e., data analytics in advertising, NGOs, or social media firms) and/or studies (i.e., graduate school in social sciences).
The course is organized around lectures, text readings, and hands-on data analyses using both Microsoft Excel and a computational statistics program called R. Class assignments, exams, and a final project will expose you to all facets of survey design, data collection and management, statistical analyses, and the interpretation and effective sharing of results.
SOCY 2061 or a comparable statistics course is a prerequisite for enrollment.