Undergraduate Major in Social Data Science

New Curriculum [Effective Fall 2024]

Minimum MATH/STAT

Benchmark 1 

Students must take Benchmark 1 and the minimum MATH/STAT courses within 30 credits of declaring their major.

SDSB 233 (Formerly BSOS233): Data Science for the Social Sciences 

 

Benchmark 2 

Students must take an introductory course within the track of their choosing within 60 credits of choosing their major.

African American and Africana Studies: AASP/AAAS 101

Anthropology: ANTH 210 or 222 or 240

Economics: ECON 200

Geographical Sciences and GIS: GEOG 202

Government and Politics and International Relations: GVPT 170

Psychology: PSYC 100

Public Health: SPHL 100

Sociology: SOCY 100

 

Core Courses 

All students take foundational courses in programming, statistics, mathematics, and data science, as well as upper-level courses in database design, data privacy and security, ethics, data sources and manipulation, data visualization, and survey fundamentals.

SDSB 326 (Formerly BSOS326): Python Programming for Social Data Science 

INST 327: Database Design and Modeling

INST 366: Privacy, Security, and Ethics for Big Data

INST 414: Data Science Techniques

INST 447: Data Sources and Manipulation

INST 462: Introduction to Data Visualization

SDSB 340: Fundamentals of Survey and Data Science

 

Track Courses

Students also take a set of track courses in a discipline that include upper-level method and theory courses, and a set of restricted electives that will allow students to deepen their knowledge of the discipline and apply data science principles to social science research and practice. Additional tracks may be added over time. 

Track I

Required track courses

AASP 210

AASP 395

ANTH 310 or ANTH 322  or ANTH 340

INST 314

ECON 201

ECON 230

ECON 305 or ECON 306

GEOG 306

GEOG 373

GVPT 200

GVPT 201

GVPT 320

PSYC 200

PSYC 300

EPIB 301

EPIB 315

HLTH 200

SOCY 201

SOCY 202

Track II

Track electives

Choose 9 credits from

AASP 301

AASP 310

AASP 313

AASP 314

AASP 400

AASP 402

AASP 411

AASP 441

AASP 443

Choose 9 credits from chosen group

Group 1 - Health

Group 2 - Heritage

Group 3 - Environment

Choose 6 credits from

Choose 9 credits, at least 6 credits from 400-level

GEOG 330

GEOG 331

GEOG 332

GEOG 333

GEOG 335

GEOG 415

GEOG 416

GEOG 421

GEOG 422

GEOG 432

GEOG 470

GEOG 473

GEOG 475

GEOG 477

Choose 6 credits from

Any 300- or 400- level GVPT course

Choose 9 credits from

PSYC 330

PSYC 332

PSYC 334

PSYC 336

PSYC 341

PSYC 344

PSYC 353

PSYC 354

PSYC 355

PSYC 356

PSYC 361

PSYC 362

PSYC 416

PSYC 417

PSYC 420

PSYC 424

PSYC 425

PSYC 432

PSYC 435

PSYC 436

PSYC 437

PSYC 440

PSYC 450

PSYC 456

PSYC 460

Choose 9 credits from

Choose 9 credits from

Any 300- or 400- level SOCY course

Capstone

 Students finish the program by completing a required project-based learning capstone. 

INST490: Project-based Capstone

or

SDSI496: Research Capstone