| Kommentar |
The weekly two-hour seminar and lab session offers a practical introduction to survival analysis. Survival analysis (also called event history analysis, duration analysis, or failure analysis) is a powerful statistical tool that models the effects of explanatory factors on the likelihood and timing of events. The technique is prominent in International Relations and has been applied to a wide array of themes such as the duration of conflict, the length of treaty negotiations, or the termination of sanctions. While most examples discussed in class will be taken from IR, survival analysis is employed in all social science fields, and students with other substantive interests are most welcome. The first part of each session will consist of a presentation and discussion of a particular aspect of survival analysis. In the second part, students will use R to apply the newly learnt procedures in a series of lab exercises. At the end of term, students will have acquired sound theoretical and practical knowledge of survival analysis, will be able to employ the method in their own work, and will have the skills necessary to independently expand on the topics covered in class. The course is addressed to interested MA students of all programmes. Solid knowledge of the theory and application of linear and logistic regression analysis (i.e. Statistics 101) is essential. By contrast, previous experience with R is helpful but not required. Due to space constraints in the computer lab, unfortunately the number of participants is limited. |
| Literatur |
Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M. and Bradford S. Jones (2004): Event History Modeling. A Guide for Social Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kabacoff, Robert (2011): R in Action. Data Analysis and Graphics with R. Shelter Island, London: Manning. |
