Duration
16h Th, 6h Pr
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The theoretical course resumes the stages of a quantitative survey. The main stages developed in the theoretical course are those concerning the principle and techniques of sampling, the preparation techniques of a questionnaire , the principles relating to interpretation of the results.
The course will also emphasize some of the cognitive mechanisms that lay under the problems of question wording. It will also develop some elements of the theory of public opinion and of the history of polls.
Practical lectures are organized for the most technical parts of the course (sampling, question wording and statistical interpretation of the results).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The purpose of the course is double:
1 ° to give to the students the theoretical basic knowledge necessary for the realization of a quantitative survey, mainly in sampling of populations, realization of questionnaires, statistical treatment and interpretation of results.
2° To give the students the necessary tools in order to understant and interpret the surveys they could be confronted to : how to understand sampling error, how to understand various forms of figures and tables, how to assess the effect of the ways questions are asked and the potential biases they can induce, which conclusions may drawn form allowable evidence.
3° To position survey techniques in relation to other ways of gathering relevant information in social sciences.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
If possible, knowledge of elementary notions of statistics and probability
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
For each main part of the course, it will be one period of training at the end of the year.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Ex-cathedra lessons (12 h) illustrated by transparent frames.
Trainings (6h).
After each main chapter of the course, one or two sessions of practictal training will take place.
Organisational adjustments related to the current health context
There will be podcasts avalaible on UNICAST
Recommended or required readings
A pedagogical frame is provided throuh detailed powerpoint. All technical elements of the course can be found there.The oral course is dedicated to explaining and exemplifying the content of powerpoint. To attend the course is very useful to understand the various slides.
STRUCTURE OF SLIDES
CH I General questions of validity
CH II The questionnaire and problems of bias
CH III Notions of sampling
CH IV Introduction to presentation and analysis of survey results.
Mainly used books are : see French version.
Consulting the various books is not at all compulsory but may help the student to understand better or to deepen the study of some particular points.
Assessment methods and criteria
Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.
Any session :
- In-person
written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions )
- Remote
written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions )
- If evaluation in "hybrid"
preferred remote
Additional information:
Written exam.
Written / distance exam
Open questions
QCM
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Slides are not send all at once by one chapter after another.
Those slides are indeed regularly adapted to furnich examples better linked to socio-political news and evolutions.
Contacts
Teacher : Sébastien FONTAINE Tél : 04/366 31 51 e-mail : Sebastien.Fontaine@ulg.ac.be