THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2014/2015
Archive for reference only
THIS PAGE IS OUT OF DATE

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Social and Political Science : Politics

Undergraduate Course: Introduction to Political Data Analysis (PLIT08009)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Social and Political Science CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis Year 2 course will introduce students to political data analysis using domestic and international data. The course will cover core substantive topics in Politics and international relations, typically exploring one major research question from Politics and one major research question from IR. It will explore how to access relevant data and assess the appropriateness of data. It will provide key skills in quantitative data analysis, including descriptive statistics, cross-tab/contingency tables, measures of association, correlation and regression. These techniques will be used to answer different aspects of the same research question. The course will show how using different types of data and different techniques provide different ways to answer the types of questions typically posed by empirical Politics and IR scholars. Throughout, both the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches will be addressed, as will issues such as validity, reliability and missing data. Lectures will be accompanied by weekly tutorials delivered in a computer lab.
Course description Part I: Introduction to Data Analysis

Week 1: Introduction to course, objectives, what is political data analysis
Research questions, hypotheses, conceptualisation, operationalisation, variables
The structure of empirical essays/articles

Week: 2: Analysing political data I
Introduction to validity and reliability
Aggregate and individual-level approaches (benefits and limits of each)
Levels of measurement
Tutorial: Introduction to SPSS, inputting data

Week 3: Analysing political data II
Sources of data (qualitative and quantitative)
Accessing data online
Tutorial: Accessing data through European and UK data archives

Part II: (Indicative) How can we account for the success of humanitarian interventions?

Week 4: RQ: How can we assess the scale of humanitarian crises?
The uses and limits of quantitative data in evaluating this RQ
Measures of central tendency and dispersion
Tutorial: Analysing relevant data online through NESSTAR and SPSS

Week 5: RQ: Do humanitarian interventions work? Part I
Data management and assessing data quality
Cross-tab/contingency tables
Tutorial: Frequencies & Cross-tabs in NESSTAR and SPSS

Week 6 reading week

Week 7: RQ: Do humanitarian interventions work? Part II
Visualising data with charts and graphs
Identifying errors in the visual presentation of data
Tutorial: Bar graphs, Scatter plots in SPSS

Week 8: RQ: Do humanitarian interventions work? Part III
Correlation and regression
Addressing the problem of ¿missing¿ data (& where do data come from?)
Tutorial: Correlating continuous variables in SPSS


Part III: (Indicative) Why and how do people vote?

Week 9: RQ: Does gender affect voter turnout?
The uses and limits of quantitative data in evaluating this RQ
Measures of association for nominal and ordinal data
Tutorial: Recoding and computing variables

Week 10: RQ: Does age affect voter turnout?
Testing differences across means
Addressing reliability problems (over-reporting voter turnout)
Tutorial: T tests and ANOVA

Week 11: RQ: Does happiness affect partisan preferences?
Logistic Regression
Addressing validity problems (measuring happiness)
Tutorial: Logistic regression
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 11, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 163 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 35 %, Coursework 65 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) A mix of
-Two data interpretation assignments (10%, 15%)
-Essay involving application of data analysis (40%) which constitutes a formative feedback event
-End of semester Take home Exam (35%)
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
Aims
-to introduce students to domestic and international political ¿data¿ and different ways of acquiring it.
-to enable students to develop analytical skills integral to the study of politics and IR, such as understanding and assessing arguments and using evidence.
-to acquire essential quantitative data analysis skills linked to core topics of Politics and IR
-to appreciate the uses and limits of different data analysis methods

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will have acquired the skills to
-formulate a research question and hypotheses, identify relevant concepts and variables
-use academic literature to develop research questions and hypothesis
-access, and assess the quality of, data typically used in Politics and International Relations
-analyse data using NESSTAR, as well as input and analyse data using SPSS
-discuss the results of their data analysis as well as present quantitative findings in text, tables and graphs or charts.
-create an empirical academic piece of work with the appropriate structure

Reading List
Philip H. Pollock (2012) The Essentials of Political Analysis, 4th ed
James M. Carlson and Mark S. Hyde (2002) Doing Empirical Political Research
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Ugur Ozdemir
Tel: (0131 6)50 3990
Email: Ugur.Ozdemir@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Edwin Cruden
Tel: (0131 6)51 5197
Email: Edwin.Cruden@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information
 
© Copyright 2014 The University of Edinburgh - 12 January 2015 4:40 am