• Offered by Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Course subject Social Research
  • Areas of interest Social Research
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Nicholas Biddle
  • Mode of delivery Online or In Person
  • Offered in Winter Session 2018
    See Future Offerings
Advanced Social Science Approaches to Inform Policy Development and Service Delivery (SOCR8204)

Course will provide an advanced treatment of how social science approaches can be used to inform policy, business and  service delivery decisions. This course will cover state-of-the-art social science techniques using a range of data sources.  Content includes panel data analysis, evaluation methods, use of machine learning in social sciences, prediction, use of administrative data, text as data, rapid review and meta-analysis and cost-benefit analysis.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Understand the assumptions, strengths and limitations of advanced techniques for analysing data in the social sciences.
 
2. Use appropriate software packages to manage and analyse data.
 
3. Identify key issues and problems in empirical analysis and propose solutions to them.
 
4. Communicate and critique research in a rigorous manner.
 
5. Discuss the policy and/or theoretical implications of advanced social science approaches.
 

Indicative Assessment

Class participation (5%) LO1-6
Assignment 1 - Critique of selected empirical paper (1,500 words, 15%) LO1,4
Assignment 2 - Research project using real-world data (3,500 words, 35%) LO2,3,4,5
Oral presentation - Policy brief from research project (10 minutes, 20%) LO5
Class test (2 hours, 25%) LO1
 

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: made up of face-to-face lectures, tutorials and online activities; and b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must have completed SOCR8201 and SOCR8202, or with permission of the convenor.

Prescribed Texts

To be provided on the course Wattle site.
 

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2018 $3180
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2018 $4860
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Winter Session

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
6711 06 Aug 2018 10 Aug 2018 24 Aug 2018 05 Oct 2018 In Person N/A

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions