Courses: AORG321B Quantitative Methods - Spring 2022
Credits
10.0Language of Instruction
English
Teaching semester
Spring
Objectives and Content
The aim of this course is to provide the students with solid skills in the most important techniques and recent developments within quantitative methods in political science/public administration. The course will enable students to carry out empirical research on their own and make sound choices of research methods when writing their MA-thesis. As a preparation for conducting their own literature reviews the course will train students in understanding and assessing critically different methods used in other research contributions. The students will be offered an advanced overview of different methods that are useful in the study of organizations and public administration: Experimental methods, various forms of statistical analyses such as linear regression, logistic regression, and multilevel analysis. In addition, the course provides an introduction to quantitative text analysis and network analysis. The course will be based on the statistical package
Stata. Finally, an aim is to illustrate how methodological choices are related to different traditions in the philosophy of sciences.
The course consists of the following components:
- Philosophy of Science and Basic Conceptual Analysis
- Experimental methods
- Ordinary linear regression
- Logistic regression
- Inferential statistics and significance testing
- Quantitative text analysis
- Network analysis
Learning Outcomes
A student who has completed the course should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge
The student can
- Give an account of the most important recent developments in quantitative methods within political science/public administration
- Explain the logic of different experimental methods and the differences between them
- Explain different statistical methods
Skills
The student can
- Employ different methods to analyze a research question
- Argue for the choice of method
- Argue for the choice of statistical technique
- Use Stata in preparing and analyzing data
General competence
The student can
- Make well-grounded choices of methodological approach
- Argue for the strengths and weaknesses of a given methodological approach
- Assess critically the validity of the results from an empirical investigation
Recommended Previous Knowledge
AORG101, AORG104, AORG103 / AORG105 / AORG107 / AORG109, AORG209 / AORG210
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
Total course overlap and full point reduction in relation to AORG321A, AORG319 and AORG321.
Access to the Course
The course is open for students who have been accepted to the Master's programme in public administration. Exchange students may be accepted upon application.
Teaching and learning methods
The format of teaching is primarily class lectures (8-9). In addition, 1-2 seminars will be given where students are required to present drafts and comment on another student's presentation at least once.
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Presentation of a short essay (1200 words if you write alone, or 1800 words if you write the essay together in pairs) written on the basis of a syllabus-related topic. In addition, each student is required to at least one time comment on another student`s written/oral presentation.
The compulsory assignment must be approved in order to take the exam. Approved compulsory assignments are valid in the current and following two semesters.
Forms of Assessment
An five-hour school exam.
Change of assessment spring 2022 from written exam to ten-hour take home exam as part of the measures to limit the risk of corona infection.
Grading Scale
A-F
Assessment Semester
Assessment in teaching semester. Students who have a valid https://www.uib.no/en/student/118764/illness-and-examinationsdocument of absence or fails the exam may take a new exam in the following semester.
Course Evaluation
All courses are evaluated according to UiB's system for quality assurance of education.
Course Administrator
Department of Administration and Organization Theory at the Faculty of Social Sciences has the administrative responsibility for the course and the study programme.
Contact Information
Studierettleiar@aorg.uib.no
Tlf 55 58 21 54