Course 2017-2018 a.y.

30320 - QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES (MODULE II - STATISTICS)


BIG

Department of Decision Sciences

Course taught in English

Go to class group/s: 23
BIG (6 credits - II sem. - OB  |  SECS-S/01)
Course Director:
LORENZO PECCATI

Classes: 23 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 23: REBECCA GRAZIANI



Course Objectives

This course provides an introduction to both the logic and mathematics of statistics, with an emphasis on political science applications. The first half of the course covers introductory univariate statistics, while the second half of the course focuses on the statistical assessment of relationships between two or more variables. In the classroom, the teaching mixes a conceptual instruction of statistics with practical data exercises in STATA. All lectures include sessions of students' independent work with the computer.
In sum, this course aims to cultivate students' nascent analytical abilities and develop their statistical reasoning and literacy; equip students with a computational competence in STATA software in a supportive learning environment for all students.


Intended Learning Outcomes
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Course Content Summary

  • Measuring political concepts (quantifying concepts, units of analysis, measurement error).
  • Describing variables (graphs and synthetic measures).
  • Describing association between two variables and making controlled comparisons (cross-tabulations and graphs).
  • Thinking probabilistically (random variables and the Normal distribution).
  • The foundations of statistical inference (random sampling, point and interval estimation).
  • Significance tests (hypothesis testing, type I and II errors, statistical significance, one sample and two samples t-test).
  • Measures of Association (chi-square test and correlation).
  • Linear Regression (assumptions, ordinary least squares, F-test, t-test on the single coefficient significance, categorical explanatory variables).

Teaching methods
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Assessment methods
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Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

There are no partial exams.

Attending students
  • Four tests. Students are asked to answer closed ended questions through Blackboard platform, on the basis of the results of a data analysis run with STATA. Each test is graded out of 31
  • In-class assessed activities graded out of 31.
The final grade is given by the arithmetic average of the tests and in-class activities marks.

Non-attending students
  • One final general written exam to be taken in an IT room, with open ended questions to be answered on the basis of the results of a data analysis with STATA, using all the techniques introduced in the course. The general exam is graded out of 31.


Textbooks

  • P. Pollock,  The Essentials of Political Analysis, Sage, 2016, 5th edition, selected chapters.
  • P. POLLOCK, A Stata Companion to Political Analysis, Sage, 2015, 3rd edition, selected chapters.
  • A. AGRESTI, C. FRANKLIN, B. KLINGENBERG, The Art and Science of Learning from Data, Pearson, 2017 Global Edition, selected chapters.
  • Lecture Slides delivered through Blackboard platform for E-learning.
Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Prerequisites

the exam code 30320 Quantitative methods for social sciences - module 2 (Statistics) is a prerequisite of the exam code 30337 Policy evaluation.
Attendance of the course QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES (MODULE I - MATHEMATICS).
Last change 25/07/2017 10:43