STV4032 – Advanced Statistics for Political Science

Schedule, syllabus and examination date

Course content

A central task for political scientists is to draw valid causal inferences, which requires both appropriate research designs and careful statistical modeling. This course goes into more depth in both of these areas, enabling students to carry out advanced quantitative research projects. In particular, the course examines key strategies for dealing with unobserved confounders and for modeling complicated data structures. This is an elective course in advanced statistical analysis for MA students in Political science and Peace and conflict studies. It builds on the compulsory methods courses in the master programs for political science and Peace and conflict studies (STV4021, STV4022, PECOS4025 and PECOS4022).

Learning outcome

Knowledge

You will:

  • know the preconditions for employing key strategies for drawing causal inferences
  • understand key aspects of Bayesian and frequentist inference

Skills

You will learn to:

  • employ key research designs for drawing causal inferences with observational data
  • fit Bayesian models using Markov chain Monte Carlo approaches
  • analyze a variety of data structures using appropriate models
  • diagnose and improve advanced quantitative models

Competences

You will:

  • be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of research designs that are intended to capture causal effects
  • become more familiar statistical programming and relevant software packages
  • be able to carry out a variety of advanced quantitative research projects

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

STV4022 - Anvendt statistikk for statsvitenskap or PECOS4022 - Applied Statistics for Peace and Conflict Studies or an equivalent.

Overlapping courses

Teaching

10 lectures and 5 seminars.

Students are required to bring their own laptop to lectures and seminars.

Examination

Term paper of maximum 4000 words.

Replication code is to be submitted, but does not count towards the word limit.

Submission of written assignments.

Examination support material

All support material is allowed. When using AI, you must explain and be transparent about its use: Read more about the guidelines for AI and exams at How to use AI as a student - University of Oslo

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.

Last updated from FS (Felles studentsystem) Nov. 6, 2026 2:43:33 AM

Facts about this course

Level
Master
Credits
10
Teaching
Spring
Examination
Spring
Teaching language
English

Contact

Department of Political Science