Course Description
Applications of data analysis techniques to problems in public management and policy. Special attention is devoted to instilling familiarity with software packages to solve public sector problems. Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, cross-tabulation, difference of means testing, and regression analysis.
Athena Title
DATA APP PUB ADM
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in POLS 7120
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course presents an introduction to statistical methods and data analysis in public administration and policy. The course is intended to acquaint students with the design, conduct, and evaluation of empirically-based research in public administration. Through the course, the student will gain confidence in his/her use of statistics to analyze public problems. No prior knowledge is expected. The course will help provide the basic concepts of statistical analysis necessary to master other courses and material in public administration and to give the students the skills necessary to conduct research on their own.
Topical Outline
I.The role of statistics in the research process in public administration II. Data preparation and definition III. Data modification and transformation IV. Measurement and univariate statistics V. Measures of central tendency and dispersion VI. Bivariate statistical analysis VII. Probability and statistical inference VIII. Multivariate statistics
Syllabus