SSI Spatial Analysis Core
Quantitative data and mathematical information are abundant features of the social world, found in stock markets, unemployment reports, and inflation measures, in pre-election polls and forecasts of election outcomes, in strategic decisions about corporate takeovers, in the spread of disease, and in assessments of job-market discrimination or police violence.
Social Science Inquiry aims to help students understand how quantitative social scientists examine such phenomena, highlighting core questions of design, analysis, and presentation. In the general SSI (SSI-General) sequence, we focus on widely used quantitative social science methods with special emphasis on causal inference, or the logic and methods by which one can ascertain the effect of one social phenomenon on another.
In the Autumn, we consider questions of research design, including the design of experimental and observational research. In the Winter, we introduce students to quantitative analysis of social data, with a special emphasis on hypothesis testing and regression analysis. In the Spring, students explore research questions of their own choosing in greater depth, culminating in a research paper.
SOSC 13120 Social Science Inquiry I: Spatial Analysis I
This course explores the concept of spatial thinking and how it has been incorporated in research in the social sciences. Fundamental notions related to space, such as location, distance, spatial interaction, among others are explored in classic readings in quantitative geography, as well as in several recent examples of research papers in urban studies, sociology, political science, criminology, public health, and economics.
PQ: These courses must be taken in sequence. Students registered in this sequence must attend the first and second class sessions or their registration will be dropped.
SOSC 13220 Social Science Inquiry : Spatial Analysis II
SOSC 13320 Social Science Inquiry: Spatial Analysis III
In this third course of the spatial analysis sequence, the concepts and methods covered so far are applied to an actual research problem that deals with an issue where the role of space is important. The focus is on formulating a research question, collecting and analyzing data and communicating the results.
PQ: SOSC 13220. These courses must be taken in sequence. Students registered in this sequence must attend the first and second class sessions or their registration will be dropped.