Elementary Demographic Techniques
Time: Tues/Thurs 4:00-5:15
Room: 395 Van Hise
Instructor: Jim Raymo
Office: 4462 Social Science Building
Tel: 262-2783
Email: jraymo@ssc.wisc.edu
Office hours: 1-3 Thursdays
Course objectives:
Sociology 674 is an introductory course in demographic research methods. The
primary objective of the course is to learn how demographers measure population
growth, mortality, fertility, marriage, and migration. By the end of the semester,
you will be able to calculate and correctly interpret standard demographic indices
such as expectation of life at birth and total fertility rates. This course
is a prerequisite for the advanced demographic methods course (Sociology 756)
and a key component of preparation for the demography prelim.
Course requirements:
Students are expected to do the assigned readings and to attend class - lectures
will address, but will not duplicate, the reading materials. Classes will be
interactive lectures and students should come prepared to participate. There
will also be short problem sets due each week. These assignments will require
the use of a calculator and the CD-ROM accompanying the text. Basic familiarity
with Excel (or other spreadsheet software) is assumed. You are welcome to work
together on these homework assignments but you should answer all of the problems
yourself if you hope to do well on the tests. Problem sets should be turned
in by no later than 5:00 on the due date. Assignments turned in after class
should be put in my mailbox on the 4th floor of the Social Science Building.
Grades will be determined as follows:
1) 10 problem sets (25% - 2.5% each)
2) 3 tests (69% - 23% each)
3) Class participation (6%)
Other relevant information:
I will communicate by email regarding any scheduling changes or additional readings.
I will also put lecture outlines and all lecture materials on a simple class
website (http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jraymo/links/soc674/syllabus.htm). I will
post this information by the end of each class day. I will send problem sets
via email and will
Readings:
Required text: Demographic methods and concepts by Donald T. Rowland (2003,
Oxford University Press). This book is available at UBS. The book comes with
a CD-ROM that we will be using. Make sure that you have both the book and the
CD (or copies of the files).
Other readings: We will also read several sections from Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes by Preston, Heuveline, and Guillot, 2001, Blackwell (referred to as PHG in the syllabus). This is the main text for the advanced demographic techniques course (Soc. 756) so I would recommend that graduate students also buy this book. We will also read a few articles from other sources – primarily Population Bulletin. These readings are available through electronic reserve (indicated by *).
Date, Topic, and lecture notes
9/2 Introduction, syllabus (slides)
9/4 Basics: Overview of concepts, measures, and introduction to the the demographic
transition (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland 14-22, McFalls*, Population Reference Bureau*
9/9 Demographic data: Census, vital statistics, and other sources of data
(lecture slides)
Read: Rowland 24-29, World Population Data Sheet* (and pamphlet*)
Problem set 1 due (key)
9/11 Crude rates and population growth (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland 29-70, PHG chap. 1 (sections 1.1 - 1.6.1 & 1.7)*
9/16 Population composition Read: Rowland Chapter 3 (lecture
slides)
Problem set 2 due (key)
9/18 Population comparisons, Standardization (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland 120-134, PHG chap. 2 (pp. 21-30)*
9/23 Periods and Cohorts
Read: Rowland 135-142, PHG ch. 1 (sect. 1.8)* & ch. 2 (pp.31-37)* (lecture
slides)
Problem set 3 due (key)
9/25 Mortality and morbidity - The epidemiological transition (lecture
slides)
Read: Rowland pp. 180-192
9/30 Mortality and morbidity: Concepts, data, and rates (lecture
slides)
Read: Rowland pp. 192-212, Rockett (pp.1-20 - up to section "Designing Research")*
Problem set 4 due
10/2 Test 1 (Practice Test) (key) (Test 1 - partial answers)
10/7 Family demography – The “second demographic transition” (lecture
slides)
Read: Van de Kaa*, New York Times article (Shorto)*
10/9 Fertility: Concepts, data, and rates (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland pp. 221-238
10/14 Reproduction: NRR, GRR, TFR (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland pp. 238-251 PHG chap. 5 (pp. 92-97, 99-101,113-114)*
Problem set 5 due
10/16 Marriage and divorce: Concepts, data, and rates (lecture
slides)
Read: Rowland pp 251-255, Newell chapter 8*
10/21 More on marriage and divorce (lecture slides - see slides for 10/16)
Read: Bianchi and Casper*
10/23 Life tables (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland chapter 8
Problem set 6 due
10/28 More on life tables (lecture slides)
Read: PHG chap. 3 (skip sections 3.7 - 3.9)*
Problem set 7 due
10/30 Life tables for other events (lecture slides)
Read: Yusuf and Pollard (chapter 4)*
11/4 Test 2 (Practice Test) (key)
11/6 Population distribution
Read: Rowland chapter 10 (lecture slides)
11/11 Migration: Concepts, data, rates (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland chapter 11
11/13 More on migration (lecture slides)
Read: Passell* (sent by email)
11/18 Population projections (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland chapter 12
Problem set 8 due
11/20 More on population projections (lecture slides - mostly repeat of 11/18 slides)
Read: O'Neill and Balk*
11/25 Spatial data, population mapping (lecture slides)
**Guest lecture: Prof. Katherine Curtis - Rural Sociology and Applied Population Laboratory
Read: Messner et al.*
Problem set 9 due
11/27 No class – Thanksgiving break
12/2 Population composition (lecture slides)
Read: Rowland chapter 13
12/4 Survival ratios (lecture slides)
Read: Hermalin and Christenson*
Problem set 10 due
12/9 Review/Catch-up (lecture slides)
12/11 Test 3 Practice Test