STV4030C – Survey design for political scientists
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
This course introduces students to the science and practice of designing surveys. It covers key aspects of survey design, including definition of a population, sampling of respondents, design of survey questions, response alternatives, the overall survey structure, and research ethics. The course discusses both the design of new "primary" survey data as well as the use of already existing comparative, national, and local surveys. Finally, while this is not a course in statistical analysis, it emphasizes how one can plan ahead for such analysis.
An important development is the increasing use of "survey-embedded" experiments. Such experiments randomly assign different questions, alternatives, or information to different groups of respondents. Survey-embedded experiments have long been used for methodological purposes, such as gauging the impact of question wording. But now they are increasingly used to answer a variety of substantive questions about politics, policy, and democracy; examples range from the impact of political rhetoric to assessing public policy designs. By engaging with the literature on survey experiments students learn about survey design as well as about key issues of substantive interest to political scientists.
The course is practically oriented in that students learn to design their own surveys and survey experiments, while communicate with others about concrete examples. At the same time, much emphasis is put on learning and applying general insights from the large research field on how design decisions affect empirical results.
The course should be generally useful for most students given the increasing use of surveys and questionnaires in settings where political scientists make a living (the examples include public administration, journalism, non-governmental organisations, and political parties). Also, the course is of immediate relevance for students planning to design new, or use already existing, surveys in their master thesis.
Learning outcome
After having completed the course, the students have acquired the following knowledge, skills and general competencies:
Knowledge
Students learn
- the "state-of-the-art" in the research literature on survey design and survey experiments
- numerous political science examples and applications present in the literature
Skills
Students learn
- how to design their own surveys
- how to design survey experiments in order to answer both methodological and substantive political science research problems
- to identify and improve research design choices relevant for various research problems
- to make design choices while planning ahead for data analysis later in the research process
- to communicate academic knowledge in writing and orally
General competencies
Students improve
- their communications skills, in particularly in issues related to survey design;
- their skills in giving constructive feedback on research design choices;
- their academic writing skills, particularly in issues related to survey design.
Admission to the course
Students must be enrolled in the master programmes in Political science.
Recommended previous knowledge
STV4021 – 欧洲杯在线买球_欧洲杯投注网站推荐@sdesign i statsvitenskap and STV4022 – Anvendt statistikk for statsvitenskap, or PECOS4025 – Analytic perspectives on peace and conflict and PECOS4022 – Applied Statistics for Peace and Conflict Studies?or?equivalent.
Teaching
Lectures and seminars.
Seminars will clarify possible solutions to tasks discussed in individual written memos handed in advance of seminars.
Compulsory activities
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Attend first seminar
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Attend two of the following four seminars
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Students hand in two written memos in advance of seminars (2500-3000 words). Each memo is associated with a specific seminar in which (some) students present their work and where the seminar leader explains how underlying tasks can be solved using the course literature. Importantly, the tasks directly resemble those of the home exam. The two written memos serve as qualification tasks that must be approved before students can participate in the home exam.
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Absence from compulsory activities:
For many courses, UiO requires participation in the form of compulsory activities. These must be approved before you can sit for the examination.
If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.
Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory activity Absence from compulsory activities - University of Oslo (uio.no)
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Examination
Examination is based on a term paper where students have one week to solve concrete and case-oriented survey design tasks of the kind they practiced before and during seminars (scope 3000-4000 words).
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about?the grading system.
Resit an examination
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.