Seminar on data analysis in social sciences

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Philippe Lambert

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is dedicated to the analysis of survey data in social sciences. The studied statistical techniques are complementary to those tackled in the course STAT0162-Statistical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in social sciences and mainly focus on quantitative responses. We shall study how factor analysis can be used to summarize the information contained by a set of such variables using a reduced number of unobserved latent variables. These latent factors will be related to the available explanatory variables using multiple regression (quantitative covariates), analysis of variance (ANOVA ; categorical covariates) or the analysis of covariance model (ANCOVA ; covariates of mixed types). Other themes could be tackled depending on the practical needs of students involved in their graduating project.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

To understand and to apply the basic statistical tools required by the analysis of quantitative data from surveys in social sciences ; to learn how to communicate the results of such analyses.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

It is assumed that students have a basic training in probability theory and in statistical inference (SOCI1241-1) ; are familiar with the use of Excel and Statistica or JMP (INFO0818-1) ; have a basic training in the use of the SAS software (STAT0806-1) ; have attended the course STAT0162.
-- Pre-requisite: STAT0162 and STAT0806-1
 

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Classroom sessions or guided reading (depending on the number of registered students).

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

The course is organized during the 2nd semester. The written report associated to the project and required to take the (oral) exam (see below) must be transmitted to the professor at least two weeks before the start of the exams.

Recommended or required readings

The slides used during the course will be made available with the associated list of references.

Assessment methods and criteria

The assessment is made during an oral exam. The starting point will be a written report describing the analyses undertaken by the student with the SAS software to get insight in some of the themes tackled by a national or an international survey (with a publicly available database). The report is expected by the end of the 2nd semester. The different techniques studied during the course should be used and so illustrated. A student won't be allowed to take the exam if he/she did not transmit the above mentioned written report at the prescribed time and in the required format.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Attending the theoretical lectures is compulsory.

Contacts

Philippe Lambert, Faculté des sciences sociales, Bât B31, local R.54, tél: 04/366.59.90, email: p.lambert@uliege.be

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session

Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning

Only one student registered to this course. He already attended the lectures last year and did not request further information at the beginning of the semester. All the required material for this course was already shared last year anyway.

Assessment subjects

All the initially foreseen topics were already presented last year to the unique student registered this year. Therefore the planned student project used for the evaluation can be made without changes.

Assessment methods

The assessment is made during an oral exam. The starting point will be a written report describing the analyses undertaken by the student with the SAS software to get insight in some of the themes tackled by a national or an international survey (with a publicly available database). The report is expected before the beginning of the exam session. The different techniques studied during the course should be used and so illustrated. A student won't be allowed to take the exam if he/she did not transmit the above mentioned written report at the prescribed time and in the required format.

Contacts

• Philippe LAMBERT: p.lambert@uliege.be
• Patrick ITALIANO (Assistant): p.italiano@uliege.be

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session

Assessment subjects

All the initially foreseen topics were presented using distant teaching in full agreement with the announced calendar for the lectures at the beginning of the semester. Therefore the planned student projects used for the evaluation can be made without changes.

Assessment methods

The assessment is made during an oral exam on Collaborate (via eCampus). The starting point will be a written report describing the analyses undertaken by the student with the SAS software to get insight in some of the themes tackled by a national or an international survey (with a publicly available database). The report in PDF format is expected by 17 August 2020 at 13h00. The different techniques studied during the course should be used and so illustrated. A student won't be allowed to take the exam if he/she did not transmit the above mentioned written report at the prescribed time and in the required format.

Contacts

• Philippe LAMBERT: p.lambert@uliege.be
• Patrick ITALIANO (Assistant): p.italiano@uliege.be

Items online