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Description
The course鈥檚 main objective is to introduce students to social science research. To do so we will focus on how we use facts and observations to make and evaluate statements about the world and the forces which appear to account for human interactions. What will become quickly evident is that academic discourse and scientific debate is more involved and cumbersome than everyday reasoning.
Over the course of the ten weeks students will learn how to fruitfully use data to make inferences about the world. We will spend a considerable amount of time on various threats to valid inferences and how one can overcome them. The second part of the course is focused on experimental designs, lab, field, and natural experiments. Students will be familiarised with the gold standard for internal validity and will see how we can use such approaches to answer relevant real-world questions.
Rather than providing an in-depth theoretical treatment of these topics this class strives to inspire and enthuse students for the scientific endeavour. A number of practical exercises will help to contextualise some of the more abstract concepts and theories.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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