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, hybrid 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.

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

Recommended or required readings

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

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.

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

Items online