Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3204: Politics through the Life Course

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to improve (1) your understanding of political socialisation processes over the life-course and how this interacts with social and political structures, (2) your ability to analyse empirical, quantitative data on political attitudes and behaviour especially longitudinal data, and (3) your capacity to critically evaluate the interdisciplinary research on life cycle events, identity, communication, inter-personal and social networks and political behaviour. Finally, the module aims to improve your ability to communicate thoughts and ideas through an original research report.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Critically assess how political attitudes and behaviour develops over the life course
2. Understand and apply the key theories and approaches explaining the effects of life cycle events on political behaviour and attitudes
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Use statistical methods to analyse data and model political life cycle effects
4. Critically evaluate political science research according to its assumptions, methods, and conclusions
Personal and Key Skills5. Confidently select relevant data, assimilate and synthesise multiple data sources
6. Integrate political science and other relevant disciplinary research with independent statistical analysis