Introduction to Programming with R (19151) Basic Statistics (19152)

- Ability to understand and identify the new challenges faced by the Social Sciences in the digital world. Computational Social Science (CSS) is a very broad subject, which could roughly be divided in two main streams, one dealing with data analysis in a very general sense, and another one devoted to modeling, also with a very wide focus. In the course, the basic concepts and definitions in the field of CSS will be covered, touching upon its main paradigms and, importantly presenting examples of research in the field, both from the scientific and applied viewpoints. As many subjects in the master deal with data analysis, the course is clearly skewed towards the modeling facet of CSS. The course begins with a general introduction to CSS, and then proceeds to introduce its more important research and activity directions. An introduction to networks and game theory as basic tools will be presented, that will also be useful for further courses. Finally, the rest of the course will be devoted to modeling and understand social complexity, mostly from the viewpoint of agent-based modeling. The course also introduces the programming language NetLogo as the perfect tool to work with agent-based models.

Lecture 0: Foundations of Computational Social Science. Lecture 1: The power of models: Unlocking social complexity Lecture 2: Agent-based modeling Lecture 3: Your first agent-based model Lecture 4: The puzzle of cooperation Lecture 5: Expanding the modeler¿s toolbox Lecture 6: Modeling opinion dynamics and social influence Lecture 7: Network structure and properties: an introduction Lecture 8: Dynamics on networks: cooperation, contagion and structure Lecture 9: Analyzing agent-based models I: Sensitivity analysis and computational experiments Lecture 10: Analyzing agent-based models II: Validation, replication and documentation Lecture 11: Synthesizing concepts: Agent-based modeling of long-term social dynamics ¿ An archaeological case study Lecture 12: Synthesis and outlook

Training Activities: - Theoretical classes - Theoretical-practical classes - Tutorials - Group work - Individual student work Teaching Methods: - Presentations in the professor's lecture room with computer and audiovisual support, in which the main concepts of the subject are developed and a bibliography is provided to complement the students' learning. - Critical reading of texts recommended by the subject professor: Press articles, reports, manuals and/or academic articles, either for later discussion in class, or to expand and consolidate knowledge of the subject. - Presentation and discussion in class, under the moderation of the professor, of topics related to the content of the subject, as well as practical case studies. - Developing pieces of work and reports, individually or in group. - Seminars/lectures by national and international experts, in face-to-face or remote synchronous sessions.