AARON SKUBBY, News Editor—Dr. Paul Djupe is heading a proposal for a new concentration called Data and Display in the Social Sciences, abbreviated D2S2.
To be accepted, proposals must first be approved by the Academic Affairs Committee, and they will then be voted upon by the faculty.
The proposal is still in the approval phase. “I hope to know within a month if AAC approves it and then it may be considered by the faculty in April, which is clearly not in time to register for fall classes. If approved, we can start offering classes in the spring,” Djupe said.
The course would be available to any student, but it is targeted mainly towards the social sciences.
According to the proposal, “the concentration offers desirable skills in any organization, academic, or government setting: comprehension of social science research methods, writing with data for public audiences, and conducting original quantitative research.”
The proposal highlighted that “the goal of the concentration is not to think about data in a generic sense, but to think about data as the outcome of social processes that are important to study through researcher-composed research designs.”
Djupe explained why he decided to propose the concentration: “I wanted to expand the reach of research methods in the social sciences so more students could take these courses, but I also wanted to encourage more conversations among interested faculty. I think that’s already begun. Oh, and I got a nudge from the administration.”
The program would require the following courses as well as three upper level electives:
D2S2 200 – Designing Research for Social Impact
D2S2 201 – Social Data Analysis and Visualization in the Social Sciences
D2S2 250 – Writing with Data in the Public Interest