DEMOGRAPHY (DEM) COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
7013 Basic Demographic Methods of Analysis
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Examines basic materials and methods used in demography, including methods for measuring levels and rates of population change, fertility, mortality, migration (both domestic and international), distribution, and composition. Emphasis on cohort and period patterns of change, methods of standardization, and life table methods.
7023 Advanced Methods of Applied Demographic Analysis
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013 and SOC 5143, or consent of instructor.
Examines use of advanced demographic and statistical methods of analysis of population and sample data, including simulating, adjusting, and smoothing; advanced survival analysis, methods of rate decomposition and standardization, population estimation, population projections and evaluations of each. Considers applications of demographic techniques in marketing, management and impact analyses in business and government.
7033 Mortality
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Theoretical and demographic empirical analysis of current and historical issues concerning epidemiological/health transition, demographic and socioeconomic differentials in health and mortality, infant and child mortality, status of women and health, environment and health, demographic change and nutrition, health care systems, and health planning policies in the United States and in other developed and developing countries. Explores advanced sources of demographic data, measures, and methods of analyses used to analyze the levels and changes in these processes used in applied demographic settings. (Formerly titled “Fertility and Mortality.”)
7043 Migration
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Examines patterns, trends and consequences of migration and immigration in the United States and other parts of the world. Explores historical and current theoretical perspectives on migration, analysis of historical, current and projected patterns of migration in the United States and other parts of the world, and examines effects of migration on other demographic, economic, social, and political factors in the United States and elsewhere.
7053 International Migration
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Examines the determinants and consequences of international migration from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Explores impacts on the migrants themselves and the countries of origin and destination. Specific issues include global competition for skilled labor, the concept of ‘replacement migration’, and the role of the state in creating and regulating international population movements. Examines public policy implications of the volume and composition of migration for origin and destination countries.
7063 Applied Demography in Policy Settings
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013, DEM 7023 and SOC 5143, or consent of instructor. Student must have a minimum of 30 credit hours in the Applied Demography doctoral program.
Examines the roles, duties and implications of being an applied demographer in private- and public-sector policy settings, including required professional skills and knowledge. Provides practical case-study based experience in applying demographic knowledge and methods to such areas of applied analysis as marketing research, site location analysis, impact analyses, advertising analyses, program evaluation, short-term and long-term planning, and similar areas of policy development. Emphasis on interactive and team-based case-study analyses resulting in written reports, and findings presented to governmental or private-sector decision makers. Provides internship opportunities for students intending to work in applied policy settings.
7073 Disparities in Health and Health Care
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013 and SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Overview of current and historical trends and differentials of health, health care access, and health care delivery systems among different racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and residence area groups in the United States and elsewhere. Examines differentials in the types and rates of incidence and occurrence of alternative forms of disease and disorders, and access to physicians, hospitals and forms of treatment across demographic and socioeconomic groups. Data and methods for assessing such disparities are reviewed and alternative policy options for decreasing such disparities are discussed.
7083 Fertility
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Theoretical and empirical overview of major issues and methodological approaches in the demographic study of human fertility in developing and developed countries. Explores advanced sources of demographic data,
measures, and demographic methods of analyses used to analyze the levels and changes in these processes used in applied settings.
7093 GIS for Population Science
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
This course is designed to give graduate students interested in population science and policy fields a hands-on introduction to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The course will cover geographic data types, spatial data creation and management, exploratory spatial analysis, and basics of geospatial modeling. At the close of the course, students will be able to: create and modify geographic data, perform GIS visualization of spatial data, use database software to manage geographic data and perform descriptive analysis of spatial data using industry-standard GIS software.
7203 Software Applications for Demographic Analysis
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Demographic analysis of statistical data sets using SAS or other appropriate software. Manipulation and analysis
of very large (e.g., census bureau) data sets. Emphasis is on both introductory SAS Data Step programming and
SAS Procedures (i.e., PROCs) for population estimates and longer-term projections, shorter-term forecasting, and general estimation.
7213 Advanced Software Applications for Demographic Analysis
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: DEM 7203 or consent of instructor.
Advanced demographic analysis of large statistical data sets using the SAS system. Emphasizes programming for such techniques as small-area estimation, sampling methods, automated data-cleaning techniques of inconsistent data sets, and a detailed treatment of the SAS Macro Language and Matrix Language.
7223 Advanced Methods for Life Table Analysis
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013, DEM 7023, and DEM 7273 or consent of the instructor.
This course covers demographic life tables and event history analysis for events such as unemployment spans, birth intervals, years of healthy life lived, and other codependent demographic events. Further, this course will provide a survey of demographic analytical methods for empirically explaining variation in timing of demographic events. This course will use SAS and/or STATA software.
7233 Applied Forecasting Methods in Demography
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013, DEM 7023, and DEM 7273 or consent of instructor.
Explanation of methods used for demographic projections and statistical forecasts of empirical data series for the purpose of planning, policy, analysis, and program evaluation. Methods will be used that solve the many historical problems that arise during forecasting, including the modeling of episodic interventions.
7243 General Research Methods for Demographers I
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7013 and SOC 5143 or consent of instructor.
Examines key aspects of research methodology and provides an understanding and overview of practical and theoretical methods used to include sampling, interviewing, questionnaire and survey construction, and methods of analysis. The course will examine alternative research perspectives used in writing major publishable articles, and a dissertation in demography.
7253 Survey Methods for Demographers
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: DEM 7243 or consent of instructor.
This course examines the use of survey methodology and the research process, with special attention given to survey instruments as they relate to demographic research. Topics to be covered include a general overview of large demographic surveys, modes of data collection, questionnaire design, reliability and validity, sampling, and analysis incorporating survey designs for various large-scale demographic surveys. Special attention will be given to data collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical software applications will be used as they relate to demographic survey instruments. (Formerly titled “General Research Methods for Demographers II.”)
7263 Spatial Demography
(3-0) 3 hours of credit. Prerequisites: DEM 7093 or GEO 5033 or POL 5913 or consent of instructor.
This course will give an in-depth coverage of spatial demographic processes including models of migration, multiregional population growth, and spatial dependence in vital rates. The course will include a brief introduction to Geographic Information Systems, availability of spatial data and construction of geo-databases for population studies. The course will have a large analytical component with topics to include global and local spatial autocorrelation, analysis of spatial point patterns, neighborhood statistics and spatial regression analysis. Emphasis is placed on usage of computer software for the analysis of population data.
7273 Univariate and Categorical Statistical Analysis for Demographic Data
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An extended treatment of univariate statistical techniques and techniques for the analysis of categorical demographic data. Topics to be included are contingency table analyses, ordinary least-squares regression, logistic and probit regression, and log-linear models as they relate to demographic analyses. Computer software packages such as SAS and/or STATA will be used.
7283 Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Demographic Data
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: DEM 7013, DEM 7023, and DEM 7273 or consent of instructor.
An advanced treatment of multivariate statistical techniques used in the analysis of demographic data. Topics include multivariate normal distribution, multivariate tests of hypotheses, confidence regions, principal component analysis, factor analysis, discrimination and classification analysis, and clustering as they relate to demographic theories and data. Computer software packages such as SAS and/or STATA will be used for data analysis.
7403 Health Care Organizations, Professions, and the Government
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: SOC 5103 or consent of instructor.
Examination of analyses and published research on health care organizations, professions, and federal regulation. Focus on the interrelationships between and among health care organizations (hospitals and HMOs), professions (doctors and nurses), and government policy (laws and changes in state support for health care) and how these interrelationships affect health care.
7413 Public Policy and Corporate Change
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Theory and analysis of corporation response to business policy change, business policymakers’ responses to corporate legal and illegal actions, and public policy alternatives in addressing such change.
7701 Professional Development Colloquium
(1-0) 1 hour credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
This is a professional development course focusing on the field of applied demography. Topics will vary by semester, and may include such things as grant writing, proposal preparation, peer-reviewed journal publication procedures, presentation development, demographic data sources and literature, grant funding sources, and job hunting. Other professional development topics will be addressed. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
7783 Internship in Demography
3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Consent of faculty advisor for internships and the Graduate Advisor of Record. Student must have a minimum of 40 credit hours in the Applied Demography doctoral program.
Practical experience in a workplace setting approved by the faculty advisor for internships and the GAR in which classroom knowledge of demographic research, methods, processes, and implications are applied. No more than 3 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree. A research paper under the supervision of assigned faculty is required at the end of the internship.
7803 Directed Research
3 hours credit. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and a minimum of 40 semester credit hours in the Applied Demography doctoral program.
Directed individual reading, discussion, writing, and/or studies of selected topics in the field of Demography. For students needing specialized work not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 hours will apply to the Doctoral degree.
7901-3 Special Topics
(1-0, 2-0, 3-0) 1 to 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An organized course offering the opportunity for specialized study not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit when topics vary, but not more than 6 hours, regardless of discipline, will apply to the Doctoral degree in Applied Demography.
7911-6 Doctoral Dissertation
1 to 6 hours credit. Prerequisite: Admission to Candidacy for the Doctoral degree in Applied Demography.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 12 hours may be applied to the Doctoral degree.
