OVERVIEW

The teaching offers a selection of methods and techniques useful for identifying, synthesizing, and communicating the information contained in statistical data for the interpretation of social phenomena. By combining theoretical lessons and exercises, students learn the principles of statistical investigation, the organization of collected data, their analysis, and the communication of the obtained results. The course is structured in three parts: Statistics for Social Sciences; Selected Topics in Economic and Social Statistics; Introduction to Demography. The course is worth 6 ECTS credits for students of International and Diplomatic Sciences and 9 ECTS credits for students of Administration and Political Science. The difference in the exam program is detailed in the sections below.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course gives the student the basic notions of statistical methods for social sciences, and in particular the collection of information and descriptive and inferential analyses. Through frontal lessons and exercises, the student becomes able to contribute to the design and management of sample and demoscopic surveys; to the planning and evaluation of social and health services; to the statistical survey and analysis of subjective behaviors and motivations, including gender, in fields such as voting expressions, social and tourist mobility, leisure and communication.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The primary objective of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the process followed in a statistical survey: from defining the study object to its quantitative measurement, data analysis, and evaluation of results for policy making. This objective is achieved by alternating two teaching phases: lectures and traditional exercises. Particular attention is given to the use of statistics as a communication tool for decision-makers.

• Knowledge and Understanding: Students acquire adequate knowledge of the fundamental elements of descriptive statistical analysis, the nature and measurement principles of the most important economic and social phenomena of interest (wealth, well-being, inflation, unemployment, demographic changes, etc.) for public decision-makers.
• Applying Knowledge and Understanding: Students are able to interpret the meaning of basic statistical reports, produce their own, find the necessary data to understand economic, social, and demographic phenomena, and replicate the analyses studied during the course on new data.
• Making Judgements: Students are able to evaluate the quality of data available online, particularly understanding if their collection and analysis meet the quality criteria typical of official statistics. Similarly, having understood the fundamentals of statistical indicator construction, they can assess the adequacy and robustness of a summary indicator of a social phenomenon.
• Communication Skills: Students acquire the fundamental statistical vocabulary to communicate clearly and unambiguously with both specialist and non-specialist audiences. In particular, they learn to interpret operationally press releases, data tables, and graphical representations typical of economic, social, and demographic sciences, especially when produced by official statistical agencies.
• Learning Skills: Students, having become familiar with numerous official surveys, can evaluate the quality of the data they will use throughout their studies and professional careers.

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

Traditional in presence lessions.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Part I - Statistics for Social Sciences

1. Introduction
   • Statistics: history and objectives;
   • Analyzing a social phenomenon;
   • Data sources;
   • Datasets, statistical units, and variables;
   • Data analysis.
2. Representation of variables: tables and graphs
   • Unit distribution, absolute frequencies, and quantities;
   • Relative and percentage frequency distributions;
   • Cumulative distributions;
   • Aggregate distributions;
   • Graphical representations of distributions.
3. Synthesizing distributions: central values
   • Characteristic values;
   • Central values;
   • Mode;
   • Median;
   • Quantiles;
   • Averages.
4. Synthesizing and comparing distributions: inequality values
   • Inequality values;
   • Variability indices;
   • Dispersion indices for qualitative variables with ordered categories;
   • Variability for quantitative characters;
   • Concentration of a transferable variable;
   • Graphically representing variability: the box-plot;
   • Standardization;
   • Comparison measures.
5. Analysis of relationships between two variables
   • Double frequency distributions;
   • Analysis of relationships between two variables;
   • Dependency measures;
   • Relationships between quantitative variables.

Part II - Official Statistics for the Study of Socio-Economic Phenomena

1. Introduction to official statistics
   • The National Statistical System and the National Statistical Program;
   • Main statistical sources;
   • Data quality;
   • Statistical data and administrative data;
   • Census and sample studies;
   • Introduction to statistical inference;
   • Introduction to the main statistical sampling methods.
2. Statistical indices and indicators:
   • Definitions;
   • The Lazarsfeldian paradigm in the construction of statistical indicators;
   • Composite and synthetic indicators.
3. Selected topics in economic and social statistics:
   • Measuring wealth and well-being of a population;
   • Inflation;
   • Labor market statistics;
   • Measures of poverty and deprivation;
   • Measures of gender inequality.

Part III - Introduction to Demographic Analysis (only for 10 ECTS students)

1. Introduction to demography:
   • Objectives and definitions.
2. Time, age, and generations:
   • Individuals and their life histories;
   • Time and duration. The Lexis diagram;
   • Generational histories and population status;
   • Generations and contemporaries. Longitudinal and cross-sectional observation;
   • Analysis tools: events, rates, and probabilities, intensity, and timing.
3. Renewal processes: extinction of generations
   • Mortality and survival;
   • The life table;
   • Longevity measures.
4. Renewal processes: formation of new generations:
   • Factors of human reproduction;
   • Fertility measures of generations: intensity, timing, composition of offspring;
   • Current fertility measures: analysis by contemporaries and generations;
   • Reproductivity and replacement level.
5. Size and structure of the population
   • Age and gender composition: the age pyramid;
   • Demographic structure indices.
6. Demographic trends and long-term prospects
   • Population status and variation;
   • Demographic balance and its components;
   • Population change and its rates;
   • Projections and forecasts.
7. Demographic transition
   • The Neolithic revolution and the ancient demographic regime;
   • Stages of the demographic transition;
   • Health transition;
   • Reproductive transition;
   • Transition to what?

Students enrolled in the 9 ECTS course must cover the entire program, including parts 1, 2, and 3, one chosen chapter from those indicated in the "Texts/Bibliography" section, and one chosen from the supplementary readings listed in the exam program.

Students enrolled in the 6 ECTS course must cover the entire program, including parts 1 and 2.

The program for the phased-out 10 ECTS course is equivalent to that of the 9 ECTS students.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Recommended reading list for International/Erasmus Students

• In English: Cicchitelli G., D'Urso P., Minozzo M. (2021) Statistics: principles and methods. Pearson
• In French: Cicchitelli G., D'Urso P., Minozzo M. (2023) Statistique: Principes et méthodes. Pearson
• In Spanish: López-Roldán P., Fachelli S. (2015). Metodología de la Investigación Social Cuantitativa. AUB

International/Erasmus students should contact the teacher for details on the teaching contents/syllabus.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ENRICO DI BELLA (President)

LUCA GANDULLIA

PIETRO STANISLAO PARISI (Substitute)

LESSONS

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The written exam consists of two exercises on the first part of the program and three open-ended theoretical questions on the remaining parts (consistent with the 6/9 ECTS of the course in the student's study plan). For the exercises section only, the exam is conducted in an open book format, allowing students to use the textbook and lecture slides. Each answer to each exercise is graded up to 7 points, while the answers to the questions are graded up to 6 points each, for a maximum score of 30 cum laude.

Students enrolled in the 9 ECTS course who achieve a passing grade in the written exam must also take an oral exam. This oral exam will cover the chosen chapter on demography and one of the supplementary readings (chosen by the student) listed in the course program and on Aulaweb. The oral exam can result in a variation (either positive or negative) of the written exam grade by up to a maximum of 3 points.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written exam will evaluate, in the theoretical part, the knowledge acquired by the student and, in the practical part (exercises), the skills developed in relation to the ability to apply the techniques covered during the course. Of particular importance in the evaluation of the theoretical part will be the clarity of exposition and the accuracy of language. Regarding the practical part, which, as mentioned, will be conducted in an open book format, the ability to solve quantitative problems using the wide range of tools presented during the course, as well as the commentary and interpretation of the results obtained, will be evaluated. The proposed exercises will, in fact, have the nature of problems to be solved by choosing the most appropriate techniques, leaving students ample freedom to choose how to extract relevant information from one or more datasets.

The oral exam will evaluate the student's ability to independently approach the reading and interpretation of additional texts on social statistics and demography. In particular, the evaluation of the oral part will focus on the student's ability to clearly present the contents of the chosen chapter and book and their critical sense regarding the techniques and methods used, as well as the quality of the statistical sources utilized.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with special educational needs, disabilities and DSA are invited to get in touch with the referent of the Department (Prof. Aristide Canepa) and with the teacher in order to agree on didactic and examination forms that take into account individual learning modalities and provide suitable compensatory tools.