Postgraduate Course: Quantitative Methods and Reasoning in Archaeology (PGHC11462)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to apply quantitative reasoning to archaeological case studies. It will provide a global perspective of current applications in the field covering descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. Students will become proficient users of the open source platform R while developing critical skills on the use of statistics within archaeological projects. |
| Course description |
The course will explore the key theoretical, methodological and technical aspects of quantitative archaeology. Through a mixture of lectures, practicals, in-class discussions, and projects the students will learn to identify and interpret patterns found in the archaeological record within a diversity of fields and specializations. They will also become aware of the potentials and limitations of statistics specifically linked to the study of the past, including topics such as time and uncertainty.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Research project (50%) - 2000 words
A research projects will be offered including a set of research questions, a dataset and some guidelines. The student will apply the methods learned to explore one of them.
2. Blog-based assessment (50%)
Students will write a blog entry at least once per block (i.e. 3 entries or more). The contents will be related to topics discussed in the lectures, the practicals or the research project. They will also need to comment at least twice on entries made by other students. |
| Feedback |
Students will receive verbal feedback during each practical and written feedback for the assessments following standard Learn procedure. They will also have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during his published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate the ability to test working hypotheses using statistics;
- demonstrate the ability to understand and critically analyse current applications of statistics in archaeology;
- demonstrate the ability to apply a wide range of methods to identify patterns in archaeological data;
- demonstrate critical understanding of the issues surrounding the investigation, interpretation and display of quantitative datasets and their links to social behavior;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Drennan, R. D. (2010). Statistics for archaeologists: a commonsense approach (2nd ed). New York: Springer.
Epstein, J. M. (2008). Why model? Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 11(4), 12.
Fletcher, M., & Lock, G. R. (2005). Digging numbers: elementary statistics for archaeologists (Vol. 33). Oxford Univ School of Archaeology.
Reinhart, A. (2015). Statistics Done Wrong: The Woefully Complete Guide. No Starch Press.
Shennan, S. (1997). Quantifying archaeology. University of Iowa Press.
Smith, M. E. (2015). How can archaeologists make better arguments? The SAA Archaeological Record, 18-23.
Verzani, J. (2014). Using R for introductory statistics. CRC Press. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- gather, integrate and critically assess relevant information
- extract key elements and meanings from complex data sets
- answer a research question by developing a reasoned argument based on quantitative analysis
- present their ideas and analyses in a coherent fashion |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Xavier Rubio-Campillo
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: xavier.rubio@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Danielle Jeffrey
Tel: (0131 6)50 3782
Email: djeffery@ed.ac.uk |
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