Course

Unit 1

Social Network Analysis

Relations and interactions among social entities; network structures, centrality, and information flow; Applications

Unit 2

Public Opinion and Sentiment Analysis

Sources of public opinion; Analysis of public opinion on various topics; Applications from policy studies; Shifts in public sentiments

Unit 3

Introduction to Agent based Modeling

Role of ABM in social simulations; Basic concepts of ABM; System dynamics; Emergent dynamics in ABM NetLogo tool basics; Demonstration of simple agent based models

Unit 4

Geo-spatial Analysis

Role of geospatial analysis and its applications; Social disparities and spatial patterns; Analyzing the spatial distribution of social issues.

Text Books / References

Textbooks

1. Cioffi-Revilla, Claudio. Introduction to computational social science. Springer London. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5661-1 , 2014

References:

1. Aragona, Maria Gabriella Grassia-Biagio. “Data Science and Social Research.” (2016).
2. Cariceo, Oscar, Murali Nair, and Jay Lytton. “Data science for social work practice.” Methodological Innovations 11.3 (2018): 2059799118814392.

Course Objectives:

1. Introduce the concepts of social network analysis and its relevance to social work
2. Explore social media data to understand and analyze patterns in public opinion
3. Introducing students to Agent-Based modeling, combining theoretical concepts, practical skill development, and real-world applications.
4. Integrates geospatial concepts with social work contexts and issues.
5. Hands-on experience exploring public opinion data to gain insights on opinion trends and communication networks.

Course Outcomes:

1. CO1: Demonstrate understanding on key concepts in social network analysis and how information flows within social networks 
2. CO2: Identify sources influencing public opinion and understand the impact of public opinion on policy studies 
3. CO3: Demonstrate understanding of system dynamics and emergent behaviors. 
4. CO4: Recognize the interconnectedness of social network analysis, public opinion analysis, agent-based modeling, and geospatial analysis. 
5. CO5: Understand how computational methods can be applied to address social issues.

Skills:

• Ability to define and identify social entities, nodes, and ties within a network.
• Proficiency in understanding and interpreting network structures using graph theory concepts.
• Ability to identify and analyze various sources influencing public opinion.
• Competence in collecting and analyzing public opinion data and visualizing public opinion trends.
• Proficiency in creating simple agent-based models and understanding emergent behaviors using available tools like NetLogo

CO-PO Mapping