90892 - Data Analysis For The Social Sciences (L)

Learning outcomes

The course deals with basic topics concerning the methodology of socio-political empirical research and addresses preliminary statistical data analysis techniques. Students will: acquire knowledge useful for the comprehension of the main data collection designs; grasp the chief sampling techniques; be able to produce basic (univariate and bivariate) statistical analyses; develop skills required for a critical evaluation and discussion of data collected and displayed in socio-political empirical research.The course deals with basic topics concerning the methodology of socio-political empirical research and addresses preliminary statistical data analysis techniques. Students will: acquire knowledge useful for the comprehension of the main data collection designs; grasp the chief sampling techniques; be able to produce basic (univariate and bivariate) statistical analyses; develop skills required for a critical evaluation and discussion of data collected and displayed in socio-political empirical research.

Course contents

The course is dedicated to students who have never studied topics concerning key concepts underlying social research method and techniques, neither theoretically nor empirically.

The course aims to retrace the debate around social science method and offers knowledge about the most common data collection and analysis strategies in the field of socio-political empirical research. Lessons will address the following topics: logic of social research; the concept of "method" in social research; standard and non-standard approaches to social research; operationalization and operational definitions; concepts and indicators; questionnaires; sampling strategies; types of property and types of variable; displaying social research results; basic (descriptive) statistical analysis; monovariate and bivariate analysis.

Readings/Bibliography

Corbetta P., Social Research. Theory, Methods and Techniques, London, Sage, 2003 (chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Bohrnstedt G.W. and Knoke D., Statistics for Social Data Analysis, Peacock Publishers, 1982 (chapters: 2, 3, 4, 7 (except par. 7.10), 8 (except 8.4.3-8.9), 9).

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lessons.

Assessment methods

The exam is administered in exclusively written form and consists in open-ended and closed-ended questions.
The only valid mark is the one achieved in the most recent attempt to pass the exam.

Candidates who pass the exam can refuse the final mark (thus requesting to re-take the exam) only once, in accordance with the university's teaching regulations.
After having rejected a passing mark, any other subsequent passing mark will be recorded definitively in candidates' transcripts.

Each student is personally responsible for his/her registration in the exam session on AlmaEsami. Registration closes 5 days before the exam. It is not possible to sign up for the exam after registration has terminated. Students who change their minds must withdraw their registration no later than the 5 days before the exam. Withdrawal from the exam permits the student to participate in the following exam session. Nonetheless, in case of withdrawal during the last 5 days before the exam, the student must send (using his/her official account @studio.unibo.it) an e-mail to d.mantovani@unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Debora Mantovani