Summer School in Social Sciences
Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective: Assessing Social and Political Change 2023
Organized by the Office of International Affairs at The Ohio State University (OSU), the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology and the Graduate School for Social Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and the University of Warsaw (UW)
Administration of the Summer School is by Cross-National Studies: Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program (CONSIRT)
Call for Applications to Participate in the Summer School
The Ohio State Summer School in Social Sciences in Warsaw, now in its eighth year, is an intensive training program offered at the Polish Academy of Sciences. This English-language course is designed to teach students how to employ quantitative methods in social sciences to get an in-depth understanding of social and political change in Central and Eastern Europe. Relying on the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN), students will learn how to apply basic concepts in statistics to substantive problems of the post-communist transformation in Poland using the Statistical Package R. Upon successful completion of the course, students will know:
– How to use R for data analysis;
– How to describe variables (distribution shapes, central tendencies, range and dispersions of single
variable);
– How to assess relationships between variables (cross-tabulation, correlation, linear regression, comparisons of summary statistics across groups);
– How to interpret research findings (samples and populations, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, understanding “statistical significance”).
Students will engage in classroom instruction at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology PAN, 72 Nowy Swiat, starting June 1 and ending July 5, 2023. The number of participants enrolled in the Summer School is regulated to keep class size small, allowing for plenty of individual attention. The OSU Summer School organizers are offering up to five grants for students of the University of Warsaw to participate in the training component of the program, without any costs to the student.
Eligibility
To be eligible, UW students must meet all of the following criteria:
(a) They should be enrolled in a UW undergraduate or MA program in the Social Sciences (sociology,
political science, international studies, economics, psychology, communications);
(b) They should have a decent command of English, written and spoken;
(c) They should have completed a course in research methodology for the social sciences (however,
knowledge of statistics is not required).
Application
To apply for the Ohio State Summer School in Social Sciences in Warsaw, interested students need to
submit:
1. Personal Information Sheet containing a) Full Name, b) Major and Year of Study, c) Title of course in research methodology that they have taken and full name of professor who taught it, and d) contact information including email and phone number.
2. Essay Application, consisting of answers to the following two questions:
A. How will your participation in the Study Abroad Program in Poland contribute to the furthering of your academic achievements? (The answer should not exceed one page, single spaced);
B. What are your career plans following graduation from university? (The answer should not exceed half a page, single spaced).
The deadline for submitting the complete application is May 17 2023. All materials need to be
submitted electronically (12-point Times New Roman font, and 1 inch margins) to Dr. Irina Tomescu- Dubrow, Co-Director of the Summer School, at tomescu.1@osu.edu
All applications will be reviewed by faculty of CONSIRT. The decisions about acceptance at the OSU Summer School will be communicated via email by May 24, 2023.
For any questions please contact Dr. Irina Tomescu-Dubrow. For more information about the Summer School, please visit the website: warsawsummerschool.wordpress.com
On February 9 and 10, 2023, the first team meeting of the MERGED project –MERGED Commission meeting was held at UCBS.
