POL40950

Introduction to the use of data for statistical analysis in political science and related disciplines (sociology, public policy, international relations, etc.). The module will introduce concepts such as measurement, variables, statistical data, and provide an introduction to basic descriptive statistics summarizing numerical data, both graphically and numerically. The core of the module will be an introduction to applied multiple regression analysis, discussing the purpose, implementation, and interpretation of standard regression models, for both continuous and dichotomous variables. It will introduce the basics of statistical inference, drawing conclusions about populations on the basis of sample data, and apply this to the regression context. Practical R programming skills for political science research are taught, strengthening analytical robustness through addressing assumptions, estimation, and inference in linear regression.