Scientific Coordination
André Ernst
Tel: +49 221 4703736
Tel: +49 221 4703736
Administrative Coordination
Claudia O'Donovan-Bellante
Tel: +49 621 1246-221
Tel: +49 621 1246-221
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Sequence Analysis in the Social Sciences
About
Location:
Online via Zoom
Online via Zoom
General Topics:
Course Level:
Format:
Software used:
Duration:
Language:
Fees:
Students: 300 €
Academics: 450 €
Commercial: 900 €
Keywords
Additional links
Lecturer(s): Dr. Marcel Raab, Emanuela Struffolino
Course description
This workshop introduces sequence analysis for social science research. Sequence analysis, originally developed in biology to analyze strings of DNA, has attracted increasing attention in the social sciences to analyze longitudinal data. Most applications in the social sciences study life course processes, including labor market careers, transitions to adulthood, or family formation.
This workshop covers longitudinal data management (only briefly), basic techniques of sequence analysis, as well as recent methodological developments tailored to social science research questions. Topics include different ways of calculating distances between sequences, cluster analysis after sequence analysis, sequence visualization, techniques for analyzing sequences' multidimensionality, and the association between sequences' unfolding over time and independent variables. All methods are demonstrated with hands-on examples using R.
Target group
Participants will find the course useful if:
Learning objectives
By the end of the course participants will:
Organizational structure of the course
The course is structured around sessions of instructions and hands-on exercises. The hands-on sessions consist of assignments that aim at consolidating the content of the instruction session by applying them in R. During the hands-on sessions, the lecturers are available to address problems that might arise and answer questions, and they will discuss the solutions before moving to the next instructions session. If needed, separate virtual rooms will be used for 1:1 tutoring. During the instruction sessions, one of the lecturers is available in the chat. Further, lecturers will be available for individual consultations on participants' projects.
Prerequisites
Software requirements
The latest version of R and RStudio should be installed on participants' laptops. Shortly before the course, the lecturers will circulate further instructions.