Proposal: To change the name of the Statistics minor to “Statistical
Analysis of Social Behavior” (SASB) and change the requirements.
1. Introduction
Announce the new minor, concentration, or track and provide a brief justification
affirming its academic quality and identifying the gap it will fill, the population it will
serve, and the advantages it will provide.
The existing Statistics minor had very few students, averaging perhaps one per year.
The proposed change in requirements and name is designed to better match the
interests of students majoring in the social sciences, who increasingly want to add
data analytic skills to their training.
The existing Statistics minor has fairly narrowly defined course requirements,
mostly drawn from Statistics course offerings. The new SASB minor will continue to
draw courses from Statistics, but will also include data analysis courses from other
departments, including Economics, Politics, and Sociology. This will provide a
greater diversity of application fields, allowing students to better customize the
minor to match their disciplinary needs.
2. Program Mission
Identify key directives, frame them within the University's educational mission, and
outline the main aspects of curricular design. In addition, discuss whether and how
other populations (e.g., existing academic departments and programs, community
members, undergraduate extracurricular groups, graduate student instructors) will be
affected by the new minor, if any.
The goal of the SASB minor is to provide students in the social sciences with an
academic framework within which to deepen their data analytic skills. The minor
requirements are designed to include central topics in statistical computation and
analysis that will be useful for all students, and also allow students from different
disciplines to choose courses that specifically fit their needs.
The SASB minor was developed in collaboration with members of the Quantitative
Collaborative steering committee. This committee includes faculty from Economics,
Politics, Sociology, Statistics, and Public Health. The Quantitative Collaborative has
existed for a few years, with the general objective of encouraging and supporting the
use of quantitative methods in social science research.
The SASB minor will be sponsored by the Department of Statistics, with ongoing
input from the Quantitative Collaborative steering committee.
3. Program Description
Provide an account of the curriculum, describing the required and elective courses.
Assess the level of flexibility in the curriculum (that is, the ratio of requirements to
electives, as well as any stipulation as to the sequence for courses or projects) and
weigh its advantages against its disadvantages. Explain the differences between the
new minor and the previous path through the degree. Are new courses going to need to
be developed, or will a reorganization of existing courses be sufficient? Include course
descriptions, especially for required courses.
Requirements for Minor in Statistical Analysis of Social Behavior
The prerequisites for the SASB minor are in two areas:
1. Single-variable calculus through the second semester, fulfilled by one of MATH
1220 (Applied calculus II), MATH 1320 (Calculus II), or APMA 1110 (Single
variable calculus II).
2. Introductory-level coursework in probability and statistics, fulfilled by one of
STAT 2120 (Introduction to statistics), APMA 3110 (Applied statistics and
probability), or SOC 3130 (Introduction to Social Statistics).
The required courses for the minor are in two areas:
1. Core data-analysis methods, fulfilled by one of ECON 3720 (Introduction to
econometrics) or STAT 5120 (Linear models).
2. Data management and cleaning, fulfilled by one of STAT 3430 (Statistical
computing with SAS) or STAT 5630 (Data cleaning).
In addition, the student must take at least three elective courses from the following
list:
STAT 3130 (Sample surveys)
STAT 5170 (Time series)
STAT 5130 (Multivariate statistics)
ECON 4720 (Econometric methods)
SOC 5620 (Social demography)
SOC 5110 (Survey Research Methods)
PLAD 2222 (Research Methods)
PLCP 5550 (Causal Inference in Comparative Politics)
No more than two courses applied to a given major may be applied toward this
minor, with double-counting subject to approval by the major department. Majors in
Statistics may not declare this minor.
Comments:
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Of the courses listed, the only one that has not been offered is STAT 5630
(Data Cleaning). That course is tentatively planned for offering in Spring
2015, but in the mean time the alternative STAT 3430 is scheduled to be
offered every semester.
As noted above, the SASB minor is more flexible than the existing Statistics
minor, which did not allow the use of classes outside Statistics. The list of
electives is expected to expand as departments add data analytic courses to
their offerings.
Other required courses are offered on a regular basis, so are readily available
to SASB students. As the number of SASB students is expected to be small, it
is not anticipated that additional dedicated sections will be required.
4. Market Profile
Identify the types of students that will be attracted to this program, the educational or
professional prospects that they will enjoy through it, and the data (both local and
national, if possible) that suggest its potential appeal and success. Explain how the
program title may enhance prospects of student enrollment, hiring, and graduate
admission. Provide testimony from potential students about their interest in
completing the minor, and from potential employers and graduate programs about
their interest in students who hold the proposed minor.
As noted above, it is expected that most students in the SASB minor will come from
social science majors, including Economics, Politics, and Sociology. Faculty in the
social sciences agree that many aspects of their disciplines are becoming
increasingly quantitative, and that it is important for students to have deeper
quantitative training. In particular, such training is expected to significantly
enhance the prospects of students who apply to graduate school in the social
sciences. The SASB name was selected to reflect the blend of statistics and social
science in the minor.
A modest number of students (perhaps six since September 2013) have inquired
about the SASB minor. Usually they are writing to ask a question about the
requirements, or to request an appointment to discuss the minor.
5. Review of Competing Programs
Compare and contrast your proposed minor with similar programs at other
universities. Be as detailed as possible in your comparisons (curricular content and
design, applicant type, application prerequisites, etc.). Specify the elements you wish to
emulate and adopt from these competitors, the elements you wish to exclude, and the
rationale behind these choices.
There are a large number of minor programs in statistics that tout the value of such
a program for social science majors, but minors that are interdisciplinary and
targeted at social science students seem to be rare. One example is the “Minor in
Social and Behavioral Sciences Methodology” (SBSM) at the University of Kentucky,
but even this appears to be a minor in quantitative psychology rather than a minor
for a more general social science audience. (http://psych.ku.edu/quant/minor/)
The lack of direct “competitors” leaves us with little to compare and contrast
against. The rationale for our choice of courses is noted earlier: the required
courses cover essential statistical computation and analysis methods, and the
electives allow students to customize the remainder of the minor to mesh with their
major program.
6. Program Evaluation
Identify those factors that are salient for the success of the minor, such as: student
achievement, faculty involvement, collaboration, and growth. Evaluation benchmarks
and metrics might include data about the pool of applicants (size, credentials,
provenance, acceptance rate), evaluation of the program by registered students,
student performance during the program, student placement upon graduation.
Articulate strategies for dealing with four possible enrollment scenarios: over-demand,
under-demand, demand with significant fluctuation, and
initial bulge then decline.
As the SASB courses are distributed across several departments and the number of
students is expected to be small (at least for the next few years), the strategy of
accommodating students into space in existing courses should suffice. In the event
that the number of students grows so large that existing available space is not
sufficient, then we will seek additional resources to add sections or, as a last resort,
institute a competitive application process to declare the minor.
As students in the minor will typically come from a social science major, most
assessment of student success will be done in the department. However, in
Statistics we will monitor the number of SASB minors and their general success. We
also will continue to work with colleagues in the Quantitative Collaborative to
update program components and make adjustments as needed.
7. Miscellaneous
Address planned or potential collaboration within and perhaps beyond the University.
Highlight the use of digital content and delivery systems within the curriculum. Include
here, at your discretion, other matters of importance not covered under the preceding
rubrics.
As discussed earlier, the program will be carried out in cooperation with
departments affiliated with the Quantitative Collaborative. At present the only
departments outside Statistics with courses included in the curriculum are
Economics, Politics, and Sociology. However, other departments will be welcome,
and it is hoped that some will choose to be a part of the SASB minor.