Course overview
The course aims to provide students with skills which are expected of professional social scientists in the contemporary world, whether they seek to gain employment in the public and private sectors or to proceed to higher-level research within their chosen social discipline. Students of this course should emerge from it with a sound background in the main sources of social science information available in Australia, and the major methods of analysing information from these sources. This course is designed to provide students with a perspective on the role of social sciences within contemporary society, especially in Australia, and with basic skills in the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of social science data and information. Key topics to learn include measurement, data collection, exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, correlation, regression analyses, and graphical procedures. No prior background or knowledge in computing, mathematics or statistics is assumed.
Course learning outcomes
- Understand the basic methods and techniques of data collection and analysis in the social sciences and how they can be used in research.
- Develop skills in analysing and interpreting social, demographic, and economic data, such as the Australian Census of Population and Housing, migration and labour force data, to competently present data using tables and graphs.
- Perform descriptive statistics, statistical testing, and regression analysis of survey data using SPSS software.
- Develop skills in selecting the appropriate techniques for various types of data, presenting and interpreting results of data analysis with high-level written skills.
- Develop an awareness of the social applications of geographical information systems (GIS) in mapping and interpreting spatial variations in social, demographic, economic, and environmental data.