2023/24 Undergraduate Programme Catalogue

BA Politics and Parliamentary Studies with Quantitative Research Methods Commencing at level two

Total credits: 485

Entry requirements:

There will be no direct recruitment to the ‘quantitative methods’ pathways. Students will be able to transfer to the quantitative methods pathway at the end of level one subject to achieving a minimum mark of 60 in PIED1110 Comparative Politics and an average of 60 overall.

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

The School of Politics and International Studies

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

School of Politics and International Studies

Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups:

Programme specification:

The programme will critically engage with the nature of Political Studies furnishing the student with a historically informed and theoretically aware academic understanding of the dynamics of political phenomena and an in depth understanding of political processes, both at the domestic and international levels.

This is a well established programme and is the only one in the country that combines the opportunity of parliamentary placements in London and North America. Subject to the availability of places, students register at the Catholic University of America and take up placements in the United States Congress or at Carleton University in Ottawa and take up placements in the Canadian Parliament.

The Politics departments of these institutions provide a programme of support for the students, organise the placements and let the political offices know of the requirements of the programme. The students work in the offices under the direction of the office manager but are also able to follow their own political interests within the two parliaments.

In addition, all students take up a placement in a political office in Britain and some students may spend the whole year in political offices in Britain instead of going to North America. POLIS organises these and provides the support mechanisms for the students. All assessment during the year is set by POLIS and does not contribute to the degree classification.

The Pathway will:
- Provide students with an understanding of the logic and principles of quantitative analysis
- Enable students to apply the logic and principles to a range of substantive settings, including case-study and comparative approaches
- Teach students to use simple statistical tests to assess the rigour and robustness of empirical data sources
- Provide the opportunity to carry out exploratory analysis of quantitative data using bivariate techniques
- Understand secondary analyses using complex statistical techniques
- Conceive, construct and interpret advanced statistical analyses, including multivariate regression and causal analysis
Such learning outcomes will contribute to students’ capacity to progress to further study at postgraduate level, bring a substantial set of social science analytical tools to the full range of disciplinary Masters and PhD programmes, as well as a very strong analytical skillsets for the employment market. Combined with the wide array of subjects in a School the size of POLIS, the applications of QM for undergraduates will be extremely broad. Similarly, the opportunity to undertake short-courses and attend other events run by the University’s Q-Step Centre will introduce students to a much wider network of social scientists working in different disciplines, and allow them to develop understanding of social enquiry through QM. Graduates from the Pathway programme should enter the new cohort of academic, public- and private-sector analysts.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

You are required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

You may choose one of the following optional modules 0-20 credits:

Alternatively you may choose up to 20 credits of discovery modules.

Discovery modules:

Alternatively, you may choose 20 credits of discovery modules. . Please check to see that you have the necessary prerequisities before you enrol.

POLIS hosts the multi-disciplinary power and conflict module which you may choose to take if you wish. However, there are also numerous other discovery modules based in other schools that you may choose from

Your total credits should be 125.

Year2 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Your total should be 120 credits.

Compulsory modules:

You are required to study the following compulsory modules.

Optional modules:

Political Theory
You must choose at least 20 and up to 40 credits from the following list. You must pass at least 20 credits of modules in this group.

Up to 20 credits from the following list or a Discovery Module:

Discovery modules:

You can take up to 20 credits of discovery modules.

Year3 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

You will undertake a parliamentary placement and will be enrolled on the following module:

Year4 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates are required to study the following compulsory modules.

Optional modules:

Candidates will be required to study 20-40 credits of optional modules from the following list:

Optional modules:
Candidates will be required to study 20 - 40 credits of optional modules from the following list:

You may take up to a further 20 credits of modules from the following list or a Discovery Module:
The module choices are as follows. Please speak to your Programme Director if you are unsure as to whether your module choices form part of a coherent package.

Discovery modules:

Candidates may take up to 20 credits of discovery [non POLIS] modules. Please check to see that you have the necessary prerequisities before you enrol.

For the award of an honours degree, candidates must pass at least 100 credits of level 3 coded modules. All level three coded modules begin with a number 3 [eg PIED3XXX].

Last updated: 28/04/2023 14:29:26

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