- Docente: Marco Tosi
- SSD: 0
- Language: English
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Relations (cod. 8782)
Learning outcomes
Not mandatory but recommended course for students who want increase basic knowledge of statistics for social sciences. The course will take place from 18 to 22 September 2017
Course contents
The Course aims to provide both theoretical bases of statistic for social sciences and empirical knowledge on how we can address research questions using quantitative methods. At the end of the course, the student will acquire the basic skills to develop research questions, analyse quantitative data and interpret results.
More specifically, the contents of the first lecture are: basic concepts of statistics (such as properties, states, units), operationalization of properties, types of variables and distributions. The second lecture provides a better understanding of inferential statistics, thus introducing the concepts of sample and population, random variable and normal distribution, standard error and statistical test. The third lecture develops details of inferential statistic and introduces bivariate associations. The fourth lecture focuses on bivariate analysis, correlations, and direction and shape of a relation. The last lecture is based on modelling strategies and the introduction of a third variable in a given analysis.
Readings/Bibliography
Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences by Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay
Teaching methods
I will use a combination of lectures, classroom and
laboratory exercises. During mornings (9-13) I will talk about theoretical
basis of statistic, while during afternoons (14-17) students will be asked to complete
some exercises. I will also provide basic codes and examples to use STATA
package.
Teaching tools
I will use slides, articles and the statistical software STATA.
Office hours
See the website of Marco Tosi