Advanced Data Analysis for the Social Sciences

6 ECTS credits
161 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1024363CNW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Dit opleidingsonderdeel is enkel toegankelijk voor werkstudenten. Je hebt 'Statistiek II voor de sociale wetenschappen' en 'Statistiek III voor de sociale wetenschappen (= Multivariate data-analyse voor de sociale wetenschappen)' gevolgd, alvorens dit opleidingsonderdeel op te nemen.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Sociology

Educational team

Hadewijch Vandenheede (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

30 contact hours Lecture
9 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
134 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course consists of three parts: (1) introduction; (2) survival analysis; and (3) multilevel analysis.

The introduction (part 1) recapitulates the necessary inferential and multivariate statistical concepts and techniques. Special attention is paid to non-linear and non-additive effects in regression models, and to direct and indirect standardisation techniques.

Part 2 probes into survival analysis. Both discrete and continuous time models are dealt with.

Part 3 focuses on multilevel analyses, a technique that enables to adequately analyse hierarchical data.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Slides hoor- en werkcolleges en extra infomateriaal, H. Vandenheede & T. De Winter, 2017
Digital course material (Required) : Gevorderde data-analyse voor de sociale wetenschappen, Theorie- en oefeningenbundel, Samenstelling: H. Vandenheede & T. De Winter, Canvas, 2017

Additional info

This subject is taught in Dutch.

The slides of the lectures and seminars and the manual are the core course material.

For more information: see study guide.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Specific objectives are specified at the beginning of each class. Summed up: at the end of this course, students should be able:

to explain in their own words the theoretical background of survival and multilevel analyses;
to choose between data methods taking research design and data quality into account;
to conduct direct and indirect standardisation techniques and calculate their corresponding composite measures;
to interpret the results of survival and multilevel statistical techniques critically and report on these ethically.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 70% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 30% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 70% of the final mark.

Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

SPSS Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Note: with oral defence

Additional info regarding evaluation

Additional information regarding evaluation

A student must pass both examination components. Only after passing both examination components, thus both the written and practical exam (SPSS), is the student deemed to have passed this course unit.

The calculation of the final result is as follows:

If the student passes both examination components, then the final result is equal to the sum of the original, unrounded results of both examination components.
If the student fails one or both examination components, then the final result is equal to the lowest score of both examination components, converted to a grade out of 20. However, if the student achieves at least 8/20 for both examination components in the same sitting, then the final result is equal to the sum of the original, unrounded results of both examination components. If this score is at least 10/20, the student is still considered to have passed this course unit.
If the student is absent for at least one of the examination components, this will result in a final result of 'AFW' (absent). The partial result of examination components is only carried forward to the resit if the result is at least 10/20. An examination component that the student has passed cannot be retaken in the resit.
Partial results of examination components are not carried forward to the next academic year.

Allowed failing grade

Check the supplementary EER (Education and Examination Regulations) of your faculty to see if an allowed failing grade is possible for this course unit.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context