Much of social science research consists of formulating and evaluating claims about how processes unfold in our interconnected world. Increasingly, quantitative methods are used to evaluate such hypotheses and to suggest fruitful grounds for new research. The goals of this studio are threefold. First, the course endeavors to give students both a basic mathematical and a conceptual understanding of several statistical tools most commonly used by researchers across the social sciences. The course does not require any prior mathematical background beyond high school algebra. Armed with only a few simple tools, everyone can understand the basics behind descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing. Second, the course examines how social scientists try to make sense of the world: how they frame questions, develop theories of causation, operationalize key concepts, and test hypotheses. Third and finally, the course will instruct students in the use of a statistical software package, STATA, and equip them with the necessary tools to use and transform existing data sets, create new ones, and conduct original empirical research. The Quantitative Studio meets weekly in the first part of the spring semester

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