A Course Guide for Harvard Students Interested in Survey

A Course Guide for Harvard Students Interested in Survey Research 2008-2009 Harvard Program on Survey Research http://www.iq.harvard.edu/psr/ Why Study Survey Research? Surveys are a powerful information-gathering tool used widely in academics, business, politics, and government. Courses in survey research will help students to understand and critically evaluate survey and polling results and will develop the skills necessary to design, conduct, and analyze surveys. Studying survey research provides a wealth of career opportunities as there is a great demand for individuals with strong training in survey methods. Public opinion, market research and political consulting firms actively recruit Harvard graduates with skills in survey research. A background in survey methodology is also extremely valuable for those interested in graduate study in disciplines such as health, education, law, politics, business, economics, sociology, and psychology. This Course Guide This course guide has been compiled by the Program on Survey Research as a reference for students interested in the field of survey research. Various schools and departments at Harvard offer courses related to survey research. To the best of our knowledge, this course list is complete and accurate, but students are advised to check course catalogs for the most up-to-date information on specific courses. The courses are divided into three areas: 1) Survey Research Methods: courses devoted entirely to methods of survey research; 2) Applications of Survey Research: courses covering discipline-specific applications of survey research; and 3) General Quantitative Methods: courses that teach methods for analyzing survey data, but do not necessarily cover survey design or implementation. Pre-Requisites and Permission The courses listed are suggestions for Harvard students interested in learning more about survey research. It is the responsibility of students to ensure that they have the correct pre-requisites and the permission of the instructor, when required, before they enroll in a course. For further information on the courses and class schedules listed here, please refer to the official listings in school course catalogues and websites, or contact the appropriate registrars directly. Students must cross-register in order to take classes in Harvard schools other than the one in which they are registered. Policies and deadlines for cross-registration generally vary from school to school. Students should contact their own registrar’s office as well as the registrar’s office for the school offering the course. Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard Business School Harvard School of Public Health Harvard Medical School Kennedy School of Government 495-1543 496-6247 432-1032 432-1515 495-1150 www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu www.hbs.edu/mba/registrar/crossregistration.html www.hsph.harvard.edu/registrar/xreg/index.shtml www.hms.harvard.edu/registrar/register/xreg.html www.ksg.harvard.edu/registrar/crossreg_nonksg_procedures.htm 1 of 7 Survey Research Methods Course # Title Faculty Arts and Sciences Instructor Term Time GOV 1010 Undergrad /Grad Survey Research Methods Harrison Spring T; Th. 1-2 Surveys and polls are fundamental to the study of public opinion and behavior, and they play an increasingly prominent role in electoral politics. This course is designed to teach students the skills necessary to implement, use, and interpret surveys on political attitudes, opinions, and behaviors. The course will focus on the concepts and principles necessary for designing reliable and valid surveys, and will focus on causes and remedies for different types of survey error. GOV 1011 Undergrad /Grad Practicum in Survey Research Harrison Spring Th. 4-6 This course will be designed to provide students the opportunity to put into practice the principles and concepts of survey research. Students will experience the survey process first hand by designing, implementing, and analyzing their own survey on any topic of their choosing or by working with a faculty member on an ongoing survey project. This broad, hands-on approach will provide a supervised environment in which students can gain practical experience in conducting surveys. Graduate School of Education S015 Questionnaire Design: A Practical Guide from Conceptualization to Administration Grad Gehlbach Fall Tu. 1 - 4 Although surveys are among the most common data collection methods that educational researchers, psychologists, and other social scientists employ, few of these scholars are fluent in the basic processes needed to produce valid, reliable surveys. This course will familiarize students with the steps and procedures that are essential to developing high-quality surveys. The course will focus primarily on extracting survey design practices from the extant evidence. For example, we will examine research that bears on the following questions: How many response options should survey items provide? Should the format of my items be open-ended, rankings, or ratings? How should I organize the items on my survey? In addition, students will learn a modest number of theories associated with survey design. These theories will help inform survey design particularly in the (many) areas in which there are few empirical studies. 2 of 7 Kennedy School of Government API 214 HPM 297 Grad MW 10:10-11:30 Public opinion polling has become an essential tool in public policy decision making, election campaigns, and media reporting. This course focuses on helping students interested in these areas learn the basic skills required to design, use, and critically interpret surveys measuring public opinion. The lectures in this course will be given by Harvard faculty and guest speakers who are currently involved in international and national polling activities. Guest speakers will include experts in issue polling, newspaper and television polling, political campaign strategy, and election exit polling. In addition, class participants will have hands-on experience analyzing and critically evaluating existing opinion surveys, designing polling questions, and interpreting results. Public Opinion, Polling, and Public Policy Blendon Spring Harvard School of Public Health Survey Research Methods in Community Spring TBD BIO 212 Mangione / Health Ryan Grad Covers research design, sample selection, questionnaire construction, interviewing techniques, the reduction and interpretation of data, and related facets of population survey investigations. Focuses primarily on the application of survey methods to problems of health program planning and evaluation. Treatment of methodology is sufficiently broad to be suitable for students who are concerned with epidemiological, nutritional, or other types of survey research. Applications of Survey Research Faculty of Arts & Sciences GOV Election Polling and Public Opinion Harrison Fall Th. 3-5 90NL Political polls and other survey methodologies are frequently used to understand and explain both voter intentions and public opinion. This course will examine the theoretical and practical issues involved in using polls and surveys. We will explore the normative assumptions involved in polling, study possible sources of error in survey measures, and discuss the prospective implications of polling for policy and governance. Gov 1362 Democratic Citizenship Public Opinion and Gay Spring M W 10 – Participation in the US 11:30 Undergrad Course examines the nature of public opinion and political participation. Considers how /Grad people acquire, organize, and apply their political beliefs; historical and contemporary patterns of public opinion, with emphasis on conflicts of values and social groups; who votes and why; the role of the media and political campaigns in mobilization and in formation of public opinion; and linkage between opinion, participation, and policy, with attention to whether citizens can discharge the responsibilities of democratic citizenship. Gov 2310 Social Capital and Public Affairs: Research Putnam Spring W 4-6 API 420 Seminar Grad Topics in the relationship between politics and civil society in the US. GOV 2314 Grad Topics in American Political Behavior Gay Fall M. 2-4 Course surveys field of political behavior, emphasizing recent developments in 3 of 7 SOC 210 literature. Topics include uncertainty; opinion change and learning; partisanship and ideology; salience of race and social identity; participation; links between public opinion, elections, and policy. Issues in the Interpretation of Empirical Liberson Spring W 3-5 Evidence: Seminar Special problems occur in the interpretation of either qualitative or quantitative results based on non-experimental data--whether from surveys, historical research, or field work. These issues differ from those that can be resolved through statistical solutions. Kennedy School of Government PPP 305 / Mass Media, Public Opinion, and US Baum Fall M W 10:10 GOV 2881 Foreign Policy Grad Investigates the various means through which the media and public opinion can influence U.S. foreign policy. Reviews historical perspectives regarding the “proper” role of public opinion in foreign policy and more recent challenges to this perspective. This will include consideration of whether and how the media influences what the public thinks about politics and foreign policy. The course considers such questions as: How does the public learn about foreign policy? Does it care about it? If so, under what circumstances will political leaders be responsive to public preferences? Does politics really stop at the water’s edge? What effect has the advent of real-time global news reporting had on U.S. foreign policy? Is this a qualitative change, or are such claims exaggerated? The goal is to develop a coherent view of the interaction between the media, public opinion, and political leaders with respect to foreign affairs. immersion. Harvard School of Public Health HCP 175 Political Analysis and Strategy for U.S. Blendon Spring MW 4:30-6 HPM 247 Health Policy Grad This course is designed to meet the following objectives: (1) to analyze the politics surrounding major health policy developments in the United States; (2) to examine and to develop possible strategies for influencing political debates and health policy outcomes; and (3) to emphasize the ways political analysis can improve policy outcomes. Major topics to be covered include: analyzing the role of interest groups, media, public opinion, legislative lobbying, elections, coalition building, policy legacies, institutions, and the politics of information as they affect health policy. Case studies focus on the enactment of the Patient Care Bill of Rights and passionate issues such as tobacco control and abortion. Major movements toward comprehensive national health insurance, including the Clinton health plan, will also be covered. Leaders in political strategy from both the health and political fields will be guest lecturers and will provide additional insights into developing appropriate and successful political strategies. PIH531 Analysis Using Demographic and Health Larsen/ Hill 2008-09 TBA Survey Data Grad This is an introductory level class on methods and measurement issues related to analyses of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). More than 170 DHS surveys have been conducted in more than 70 countries since the establishment of DHS in 1984. The students are introduced to the core survey, as well as to selected modules on, for example, domestic violence and female circumcision. The class will focus on developing survey data analyses skills, such as downloading a DHS data set, creating a SAS data set and performing specific empirical exercises. The class is problems based including 4 of 7 the measurement of period and cohort trends in fertility, age at first intercourse and the prevalence of infertility. All analyses are done using the software package SAS. General Quantitative Methods Primarily for Undergraduates Faculty of Arts & Sciences ECON 1126 Quantitative Methods in Economics ECON1127 Statistical Methods for Evaluating Causal Effects GOV 1000 Quantitative Methods for Political Science I GOV 1002 SOC 156 SOC ST 20 PSY 1900 PSY 1901 PSY 1901 PSY 1950 PSY 1952 SOC 156 STAT 100 STAT 100 STAT 101 STAT 102 STAT 104 STAT 110 STAT 111 STAT 120 STAT 131 STAT 135 STAT 139 STAT 140 STAT 149 Advanced Quantitative Political Methodology Quantitative Methods in Sociology Statistics for Social Studies Introduction to Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences Methods of Behavioral Research Methods of Behavioral Research Intermediate Statistical Analysis in Psychology Multivariate Analysis in Psychology Quantitative Methods in Sociology Introduction to Quantitative Methods Introduction to Quantitative Methods Introduction to Quantitative Methods Fundamentals of Biostatistics Introduction to Quantitative Methods Introduction to Probability Introduction to Theoretical Statistics Intermediate Biostatistical Methods Time Series Models and Forecasting Statistical Computing Software Statistical Sleuthing Through Linear Models Design of Experiments Generalized Linear Models Faculty of Arts & Sciences Economics ECON 2110 Introductory Probability and Statistics for Econ ECON 2120 Introduction to Applied Econometrics ECON 2120 Introduction to Applied Econometrics ECON 2130 Applied Econometrics ECON 2140 Econometric Methods ECON 2142 Time Series Analysis ECON 2144 Advanced Applied Econometrics Department of Government 5 of 7 GOV 2000 Quantitative Methods for Political Science I GOV 2001 Advanced Quantitative Research Methodology GOV 2002 Topics in Quantitative Methods GOV 2003 Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling Department of Psychology PSY 2100 Research Methodology PSY 3800 Psychometric Theory Department of Sociology SOC 203a Methods of Quantitative Sociological Research I SOC 203b Analysis of Longitudinal Data Department of Statistics STAT 210 Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics STAT 211 Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics II STAT 212 Probability Theory and Mathematics Statistics III STAT 214 Causal Inference in Statistics and the Social and Biomedical Sciences STAT 215 Fundamentals of Computational Biology STAT 220 Bayesian Data Analysis STAT 221 Statistical Computing Methods STAT 225 Spatial Statistics STAT 230 Multivariate Statistical Analysis STAT 231 Time Series Models and Forecasting STAT 232 Incomplete Multivariate Data STAT 233 Matched Sampling STAT 239 Statistical Sleuthing Through Linear Models STAT 249 Generalized Linear Models John F. Kennedy School of Government API 201 Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods API 202 Empirical Methods II API 205 Statistics for Policy Makers API 208 Program Evaluation: Estimating Program Effectiveness with Empirical Analysis API 209 Advanced Quantitative Methods I: Constrained Optimization and Mathematical Statistics API 210 Advanced Quantitative Methods II API 217 Introduction to Applied Econometrics Harvard School of Public Health BIO 200 Principles of Biostatistics BIO 201 Introduction to Statistical Methods BIO 202 Principles of Biostatistics I BIO 203 Principles of Biostatistics II BIO 205 Statistical Methods for Health and Social Policy BIO 206 Introductory Statistics for Medical Research BIO 207 BIO 208 BIO 209 Statistics for Medical Research II Statistics for Medical Research, Advanced Statistics for Medical Research, Translational 6 of 7 BIO 211 BIO 213 BIO 223 BIO 224 BIO 226 BIO 230 BIO 231 BIO 232 BIO 233 BIO 234 BIO 235 BIO 245 Regression and Analysis of Variance in Experimental Research Applied Regression for Clinical Research Applied Survival Analysis and Discrete Data Analysis Survival Methods in Clinical Research Applied Longitudinal Analysis Probability Theory and Applications I Statistical Inference I Methods I Methods II Research Synthesis & Meta-Analysis in Public Health Regression and Analysis of Variance Analysis of Multivariate and Longitudinal Data BIO 247 Design of Scientific Investigations BIO 248 Advanced Statistical Computing BIO 249 Bayesian Methods in Biostatistics BIO 250 Probability Theory and Applications II BIO 251 Statistical Inference II BIO 276 Sequential Analysis Harvard Graduate School of Education S010Y Answering Questions with Quantitative Data S012 Empirical Methods: Intro to Statistics for Research S030A Intermediate Statistics S030B Intermediate Statistics S052 Applied Data Analysis S061 Methods of Educational Measurement S077 Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis S290 Quantitative Methods for Improving Causal Inference in Educational Research 7 of 7