Statistic and Research Method Courses (6 to 8 credits)
 
Students enrolled in the minor will be required to take two courses in statistics and research methods. Please be aware that all of these courses have prerequisites. Any of the following courses are appropriate choices for the first of these two courses:
 
  • BIOM 301         Introduction to Biometrics
  • CCJS 200         Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice
  • ECON 321        Economic Statistics
  • EDMS 451        Introduction to Educational Statistics
  • GVPT 422        Quantitative Political Analysis
  • PSYC 200         Statistical Methods in Psychology
  • SOCY 201        Introductory Statistics for Sociology
  • STAT 400         Applied Probability and Statistics I
  • STAT 410         Introduction to Probability Theory
 
Any of the following courses are appropriate choices for the second of the two courses:
 
  • ECON 422        Econometrics I
  • SOCY 401        Intermediate Statistics for Sociologists
  • STAT 401         Applied Probability and Statistics II
  • STAT 420         Introduction to Statistics
 
There is enormous demand on campus for many of the courses listed as options for fulfilling the statistics/research methods requirement, especially the courses on the first list, and the number of seats available in these classes may be limited.  Majors in the department that offers a course may receive priority for enrollment (e.g., CCJS 200) or enrollment in a course may be restricted to majors (e.g., ECON 321).  In addition, there may be prerequisites associated with a particular course.  Several of the courses listed in the first set of options require that the student have taken calculus and some of the courses listed in the second set of options require a particular first course as a prerequisite (e.g., STAT 420 requires STAT 410 as a prerequisite).  The fact that a course is listed as an appropriate option for fulfilling the minor requirements does not imply that students necessarily will be able to enroll in that specific course.  Students interested in the minor will be asked to consult with their JPSM Advisor about the best way to complete the two-course statistics and research methods requirement given their individual circumstances.  Courses covering similar material, including courses offered at other institutions, may be accepted as substitutes for the listed courses.
 
SOCY 201 and SOCY 401 are 4-credit rather than 3-credit courses.  For students choosing these courses to fulfill the requirements of the minor, the minor will be an 18-credit program.  Students admitted to the minor in the spring of their sophomore year that have not yet taken one of the listed statistics/research methods courses ideally will take one in the fall of their junior year and the second in the spring of their junior year.
 
Core Course in Survey Methodology (3 credits)
 
The core course of the minor is SURV 400 Fundamentals of Survey Design.  This is an existing course that is offered each spring and is taught by a regular member of the JPSM teaching faculty.  Students in the minor will be given enrollment priority.  SURV 400 is designed to provide students with an overview of the entire survey process, from the development of survey objectives to the collection and analysis of the survey data.  Leading scholars in the field authored the textbook for the course, all of who have taught in the JPSM program.  SURV 400 will be a prerequisite for the two additional 3-credit SURV courses required for the minor and should be taken in the spring of the junior year.
 
2 Additional Survey Methodology Courses (6 credits)
 
SURV 630 Questionnaire Design (3 credits), a course developed to serve students in the minor as well as graduate students pursuing the JPSM Masters in Survey Methodology. 
 
Students taking the minor also will be required to take one additional 600-level SURV (3-credit) course.  The course options and the semesters when these courses are regularly offered are as follows:
 
  • SURV 623  Data Collection – Fall, Summer
  • SURV 632  Social and Cognitive Foundations of Survey Measurement – Fall
  • SURV 625  Applied Sampling – Spring, Summer
 
These are existing courses taken primarily by students in the JPSM Masters program.  Although these are graduate level courses, we believe they should be accessible to advanced undergraduates with suitable preparation.
 
Seminar (1 credit)
 
The final requirement for the minor is that students participate in SURV 672 Introduction to the Federal Statistical System. This is a one-credit pass-fail seminar, taught each fall, in which students consider issues related to the ethics of survey data collection and serving the users of survey data.  During the semester, students meet with the heads of a number of the federal statistical agencies, giving them the opportunity to learn about those agencies' work.  This seminar is an important part of the professionalization of our students and thus of preparing them for careers that make use of their survey methodology background.