Universität Wien

230049 SE Global demographic trends (2021S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 23 - Soziologie
Continuous assessment of course work
REMOTE
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 35 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

This course will be held digitally.

  • Friday 05.03. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital
  • Friday 19.03. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital
  • Friday 26.03. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital
  • Friday 16.04. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital
  • Friday 21.05. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital
  • Friday 28.05. 10:00 - 14:00 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The participants shall become familiar with basic demographic research methods and data sources that will allow them to analyze and understand the main features of demographic trends in countries around the world and assess alternative scenarios for the future. They should also learn to assess the social, economic and environmental consequences of population trends. An additional aim is to improve the skills of giving a well-structured presentation on the results of the work.

Contents:
We will discuss the indicators and methods for studying fertility, mortality and migration trends and combining them in models of population dynamics. We will focus on the understanding the drivers of the global demographic transition that brings countries from population to population ageing. Special attention will be given to studying alternative possible future population trends by age, sex and level of education for countries at different stages of development.

Method:
The seminar essentially consists of two blocks. In the first block in March the basic concepts, methods and sources of data will be introduced, and students will choose their country for which they will produce demographic profiles. In May students will then present their country specific analyses in the form of Power Point presentations for which they will receive feed-back from the instructor as well as the other students for an improved second round of presentations. Between these two blocks there will be an intermediate meeting in May in which students discuss the progress in their work, may identify issues where they encounter problems and will be given advice toward possible solutions.

Assessment and permitted materials

1. Active participation in the discussions (10 percent)
2. Quality of final presentation (30 percent)
3. Quality of written annotated version of the presentation with clear definition data sources and methods used, discussion of results and references (60 percent)

Important Grading Information:
If not explicitly noted otherwise, all requirements mentioned in the grading scheme must be met.
If a required task is not fulfilled, this will be considered as a discontinuation of the course. In that case, the course will be graded as ‘fail’ (5), unless there is a major and unpredictable reason for not being able to fulfill the task on the student's side (e.g. a longer illness).
In such a case, the student may be de-registered from the course without grading.
Whether this exception applies is decided by the lecturer.
If any requirement of the course has been fulfilled by fraudulent means, be it for example by cheating at an exam, plagiarizing parts of a written assignment or by faking signatures on an attendance sheet, the student's participation in the course will be discontinued, the entire course will be graded as ‘not assessed’ and will be entered into the electronic exam record as ‘fraudulently obtained’.
The plagiarism-detection service (Turnitin in Moodle) can be used in course of the grading: Details will be announced by the lecturer.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Only students who give both a presentation and deliver a written documentation of it will receive a positive grade.

Active participation: Students are expected to participate in all sessions and also actively follow the presentations that other students give.

A maximum of two missed sessions will be tolerated. In the case of important personal reasons to miss more sessions the instructor can grant special permission

Assessment criteria for the above stated three components of assessment:
For participation in discussions the student will receive 0-10 points
For the quality of the oral presentation the student will receive 0-30 points
For the quality of the written documentation the student will receive 0-60 points

Only if the student scores a total of over 50 points there will be a positive grade.

Examination topics

Global Demographic Trends: In the first block of the seminar in March the basic concepts, methods and sources of data will be introduced, and students will choose their country for which they will produce demographic profiles.

Both the presentation by the student and the written documentation must be in English. The introduction by the teacher and the discussions will also be in English.

Reading list

The Reading list will be communicated in the first lesson.

Association in the course directory

Die Lehrveranstaltung kann für jede Forschungsspezialisierung des Masterstudiums Soziologie herangezogen werden, sofern dies inhaltlich zu Ihrem Masterarbeitsvorhaben passt bzw. mit dem Betreuer oder der Betreuerin abgesprochen wurde.

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:20