6 ECTS credits
166 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1020439AER for all students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Sociology
Educational team
Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
36 contact hours Lecture
27 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
103 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Descriptive and inferential statistics form a basic approach for doing social research. A statistical approach to social sciences research, however, enhances more than a mere application of statistics to gather and process data. The core of the course constitutes of the basic reasoning that underlies a statistical enquiry in the domain of the social sciences; the levels of measurement; the forms of data that can be processed; the definition of data; the calculation of measures of centrality, dispersion, shape and bivariate association; statistical inference; validity tests; and the interpretation of research results achieved through statistical applications.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Digital course material, Canvas
Handbook (Required) : Statistics for the Social Sciences, Exercises and Solutions, Verhaeghe, P.P., 2nd edition, Brussels: Academic and Scientific Publishers, 9789461173744, 2022
Additional info

Not applicable.

 

 

Learning Outcomes

General competences

The aim of this course is to introduce statistical concepts and techniques in the areas of descriptive as well as inferential statistics. By the end of this course students should be able to explain in their own words inferential- and descriptive-statistical concepts; to calculate measures of centrality, shape, dispersion and bivariate association; to apply probability rules; to elaborate upon the characteristics of theoretical and sampling distributions; and to explain and apply the principles of descriptive and inferential statistics.

  • LO8: knows how to set up a scientific and methodologically correct research design.
  • LO9: possesses the methodological knowledge and skills of data selection and data processing that prevail within the domains of the social sciences.
  • LO10: masters the techniques of good and accurate research reporting in oral and written form.
  • LO11: has an investigative, problem-oriented and critical attitude towards social, political and media-related phenomena and scientific research results with regard thereof.

 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% 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 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Formative evaluation:

Under the supervision of the teaching assistants, students are taught during seminars, exercises and computer assisted practicals to apply the statistical techniques to research questions.

Summative evaluation:

Written examination about the knowledge, application and interpretation of statistical techniques: written exam at the end of the semester (100%).

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

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Sociology
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Startplan