This course aims mainly at:
- Giving the students an extensive knowledge of all the information systems used or usable in demography, and more broadly in the social sciences
- Allowing them to take part in the launching or the conducting of a census or survey
- Giving them the necessary technical bases on sampling.
Main themes
This course has two main purposes: the first one (40 h) is devoted to the extensive analysis of information sys-tems, the other one (20h) to an introduction to the theories and practices of sampling.
Part I
- Generalities, history and place of observation in the scientific production process
- Concepts and definitions of the most common collective and individual variables
- Sources of continuous observation (vital registration, observatories, registers)
- The census (and its various recent alternatives)
- Different types of surveys (generalities, typologies, techniques and problems linked to retrospective and prospective surveys, events and reference periods, various biases, building up questionnaires)
- Additional sources (teledetection )
- Links between qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Part II
- Various types of probabilistic samples and calculation of sampling errors specific to each of them
- Various aspects of the sampling process (sampling frame, calculation of size)
- Case studies, including for specific populations (illegal migrants, homeless, etc.).
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)