DS823: Biodemography, forecasting and population dynamics
Study Board of Science
Teaching language: Danish or English depending on the teacher
EKA: N340078102
Assessment: Second examiner: None
Grading: Pass/Fail
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Master
STADS ID (UVA): N340078101
ECTS value: 3
Date of Approval: 16-05-2020
Duration: 1 semester
Version: Archive
Comment
Entry requirements
Academic preconditions
Requirements for this course are knowledge of basic statistics and mathematics. A basic knowledge of R software is also expected (a basic free online course on R is found in cousera: https://www.coursera.org/course/rprog)
Course introduction
This is an introductory course in biodemography. Lectures on biodemographic methodologies and are followed by hands-on exercises using relevant data sources. The course also includes recent methodologies and debates in population studies.
The course will give the student skills in biodemographic theory, methods and use. The course explicitly focus on
- The link between demography and health science
- Methodologies used in biodemography
- Data analysis of data in a biodemographic perspective
- As a data scientist knowledge on health data and their use is important.
Generel competences:
- Knowledge about the needs and opportunities of the specialization when working with and processing data
- Competences in selecting, applying, and combining the right programming, statistics, and machine learning tools and methods to work with data relevant for the specialization
- Skills in managing complex work and development situations in the areas of data processing and analysis as well as starting up and executing analyses
Expected learning outcome
- To have a thorough understanding of rates and their importance in demography
- To recognize the relevant settings for basic demographic methods.
- To have knowledge of standard demographic data resources.
- To be able to perform standard demographic analyses in R.
- To be aware of standard pitfalls in demographic (health) research.
Content
This course sets out the basic skills and concepts that a data scientist should have when dealing with demographic data. We refresh the centrally important concept of rates, as well as the relationship of demography with statistics. We then turn to basic methods in demography, as well as basic data resources. We discuss basic demographic visualization tools and explore methods to deal with problematic data. Finally, we venture into some applications of demography, such as evolutionary demography and forecasting.
Literature
Examination regulations
Exam element a)
Timing
Autumn
Tests
Written essay
EKA
N340078102
Assessment
Second examiner: None
Grading
Pass/Fail
Identification
Full name and SDU username
Language
Normally, the same as teaching language
Duration
2 hours
Examination aids
Allowed.
ECTS value
3
Additional information
The examination form for re-examination may be different from the exam form at the regular exam.
Indicative number of lessons
Teaching Method
There will be 8 lectures of 45 minutes followed by exercises designed to support the lectures. At the discretion of the lecturer, lectures and exercises may be mixed. Students are encouraged to send in their work for feedback.
Teacher responsible
| Name | Department | |
|---|---|---|
| Maarten Jan Wensink | mwensink@health.sdu.dk | Epidemiologi, Biostatistik og Biodemografi (EBB) |
| Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen | rjacobsen@health.sdu.dk | Epidemiologi, Biostatistik og Biodemografi (EBB) |
| Silvia Rizzi | srizzi@health.sdu.dk | Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics |
Additional teachers
| Name | Department | City | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camilla Riis Nielsen | crnielsen@health.sdu.dk | Epidemiologi, Biostatistik og Biodemografi (EBB) | |
| Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt | lahrenfeldt@health.sdu.dk | Epidemiologi, Biostatistik og Biodemografi (EBB) | |
| Martina Otavova | motavova@health.sdu.dk | IST - EBB/Epidemiologi, Biostatistik og Biodemografi |