Admission requirements
Mandatory for students who have an exemption for Mathematics for Statisticians.
Description
The Statistics and Data Science master has a diverse population of students from different scientific backgrounds. As most of our application areas fall within the Life and Behavioral Sciences domain an introduction to research into these areas is essential.
Usually, we encounter only the end-product of research: data. But how did these data come about? How do researchers measure the constructs of interest? For example, how do you measure depression? And does depression exist somewhere in the brain? What defines plant growth? Or, how do we decide whether someone has a certain disease?
Course objectives
This course is about what happens before data. What is the philosophical basis of research, and how do we measure ‘things’? At the end of this course the students can:
Identify different philosophical lines of thought.
Identify different phases of the empirical cycle.
Highlight the difficulties with, and intricacies of, measurement in research performed in the Life and Behavioral Sciences.
Apply their knowledge in a small empirical study.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of Instruction
A mix of lectures and workgroups.
Assessment method
Assignments (60%) and a final (group) presentation (40%).
Reading List
Literature will be specified during the course; no books are required.
Registration
Every student must register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudymap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to register for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam.
Extensive FAQ on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
w [dot] d [dot] weeda [at] fsw [dot] leidenuniv [dot] nl
Remarks
This course is one of the two homologation courses of the master Statistics and Data Science, the other homologation course is Mathematics for Statisticians. It is mandatory to follow at least one of the two homologation courses. Students with a quantitative Bachelor’s degree, such as Mathematics, Econometrics, Statistics, need to follow this course Empirical Research in the Life and Behavioural Sciences.