Course Schedule

INFO 514 – Computational Social Science

GIDP: Global Change (GC) · GIDP: Second Lang. Acquisition & Teaching (SLAT)

This course will introduce you to the burgeoning methodological subfield called computational social science: An evolving bundle of computationally sophisticated techniques that are increasingly used to answer research questions in the social sciences. The goal of the course is for you to learn how to produce your own computational social science research project aimed at a scholarly outlet. The course will survey the latest published research and train you in research design, methods, and techniques in computational social science. This might include topics such as Big Data, data visualization, social network analysis, agent-based modeling, and natural language processing, as well as identifying and developing variables, mechanisms, and research questions motivated by social science research. The course will also delve into the growing ethical challenges and considerations associated with computational social science research. The course is set up to welcome people from many different backgrounds, in particular those with or without prior exposure to programming, statistics, or the social sciences.