INFO 6610

Text and Networks in Social Science Research

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This is a course on networks and text in quantitative social science. The course will cover published research using text and social network data, focusing on health, politics, and everyday life, and it will introduce methods and approaches for incorporating high-dimensional data into familiar research designs. Students will evaluate past studies and propose original research.

Prerequisites REF-FA25/Corequisites REF-FA25 HD 5760 or GOVT 6029 or SOC 6020 or equivalent.Recommended prerequisite: some R or similar (e.g., python) programming experience. Corequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements (SBA-HE)

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Learn to critically evaluate empirical research that uses text as data or social network analysis.
• Connect fundamentals of research design to high-dimensional data analysis.
• Develop verbal and written skills via in-class discussion, presentations, and written assignments.
• Learn to represent complex relationships quantitatively and conduct high-dimensional data analyses using statistical programming.
• Learn methods for avoiding over-fitting in high-dimensional data analysis.

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