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| Semester | fall semester 2020 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Darja Mihailova (darja.mihailova@unibas.ch)
Silvana Târlea (s.tarlea@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Surveys are a widely used tool in the social sciences for analyzing the mass public as well as political elites. They can help us measure public opinion and determine best messaging strategies in political campaigns. How do scholars use surveys in their research and how should one acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses? What are the essential components of a survey? Along with tackling these questions, this course teaches and guides students to design their own surveys and to implement them in their research. At the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of good survey design, sampling, validity and reliability of the sample, and will be able to identify strengths and weaknesses of various methods. Basic knowledge of R and Qualtrics will also be acquired as part of the course.• In order to attend this course, students are required to combine individual learning with synchronous meetings via zoom. • Given the rather small number of students that we expect from this course and the block-format, we will organize the zoom meetings after consultations regarding availability with the participants to the course. • The course will take place one day each month on a Friday (November 13, December 11 2020 and in January 2021 - to be decided). |
| Learning objectives | By the end of this course, students will be able • to critically read literature relying on survey methodology and to identify strengths and weaknesses of survey design. • to design a questionnaire that can be used in the social sciences. • to suggest a research question and to run their own questionnaire relevant to their research. • to do descriptive analyses of the resulting questionnaires. • to understand the advantages and disadvantages of survey experiments. |
| Comments | The G3S course will take place one day each month on a Friday (November 13, December 11 2020 and in January 2021 - to be decided). |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Doktorat Politikwissenschaft: Empfehlungen (PhD subject: Political Science) Modul: Vertiefung Politikwissenschaft M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | 1. Students will need to present to the group (40% of the grade) • The presentation will be 15 minutes for a group of 2 students (so roughly 7 minutes each). • Will use supporting slides. 2. Students will write their own small research paper relying on questionnaires fielded in their field of interest (60% of the grade). • The individual paper will be 2500 words (+/- 10%) and will be handed in in both word and pdf format, named name.surname_course.pdf and name.surname_course.docx. Structure of the course Individual learning • Given the online version of the course, students will be required to do the readings and acquire information outside of the zoom meetings. This time of individual study counts towards the seminar. • We can set-up consultations anytime questions arise. • Zoom meetings will be used to answer questions and to provide some short lecture on some of the key concepts. • Each group will get feedback from the course providers for 30 minutes after having completed Day 2 of the course. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft |