2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Humanities and social science courses
Statistics B
- Academic unit or major
- Humanities and social science courses
- Instructor(s)
- Shin Okubo
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Intensive
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- LAH.T201
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2026
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 5, 2026
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course examines descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, both are indispensable to the analysis of social survey data. Descriptive statistics summarize the characteristics of a sample, and inferential statistics generalize the characteristics of the population from a sample.
Students not only learn the basics of them, but apply them to analyze social survey data and discuss the results using practical approaches. This leads students to consider how to think about various issues in contemporary society (e.g. economic inequality, meritocracy, family, time use, gender).
This course treats social gap and inequality as the main topic of analysis, using some large-scale social survey data.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Understand the basic process of social surveys.
2) Learn basic methods of analysis of social survey data.
3) Adequately describe and explain social phenomena using analytic findings.
Keywords
social statistics, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, probability, estimate, hypothesis test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, regression
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Using the handouts, the instructor will lecture on basic methods of statistics for social data analysis and practical analyses of survey data. Students must submit four short assignments and a final report.
This course is an intensive course. The schedule is as follows.
Tuesday, 18th Aug 2026: Class 1 (period 3-4), Class 2 (period 5-6), Class 3 (period 7-8)
Wednesday, 19th Aug 2026: Class 4 (period 3-4), Class 5 (period 5-6), Class 6 (period 7-8)
Thursday, 20th Aug 2026: Class 7 (period 5-6), Class 8 (period 7-8)
Wednesday, 26th Aug 2026: Class 9 (period 3-4), Class 10 (period 5-6), Class 11 (period 7-8)
Thursday, 27th Aug 2026: Class 12 (period 3-4), Class 13 (period 5-6), Class 14 (period 7-8)
Information on the lecture room will be provided as soon as decided.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction [1]: Basis of social survey |
Explain social survey methods. |
| Class 2 | Introduction [2]: Sampling, descriptive statistics |
Explain sampling methods and the importance of frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, and measures of dispersion. |
| Class 3 | Introduction [3]: Social mobility and odds ratio |
Explain the basic concepts of inequality and odds ratio as indicators of social mobility. |
| Class 4 | Basis of inferential statistics [1]: Probabitily distribution, central limit theorem |
Explain the relationship between inferential statistics and central limit theorem and the importance of random sampling. |
| Class 5 | Basis of inferential statistics [2]: Estimate, hypothesis testing |
Explain point estimate, interval estimate and the process of hypothesis testing. |
| Class 6 | Basic analysis [1]: Crosstabulation and chi-square test, correlation coefficient and t-test |
Explain chi-square test, scatter plots and correlation coefficient. |
| Class 7 | Basic analysis [2]: Mean difference test, significance testing with proportions |
Explain mean difference test, significance testing with proportions. (e.g. t-test, one-way analysis of variance) |
| Class 8 | Basic analysis [3]: Consideration of elaboration |
Explain analysis with a third variable. (e.g. multiple crosstabulation, partial correlation coefficient, two-way analysis of variance) |
| Class 9 | Regression Analysis [1]: Basis of linear regression model |
Explain regression coefficient, coefficient of determination and ordinary least squares. |
| Class 10 | Regression Analysis [2]: Multiple regression analysis |
Explain multiple regression analysis and points of caution in interpretation of the results. |
| Class 11 | Regression Analysis [3]: Logistic regression analysis |
Explain logistic regression analysis and points of caution in interpretation of the results. |
| Class 12 | Regression Analysis [4]: Multilevel analysis, panel data analysis |
Explain the methods of analysis of nested data and panel data analysis. |
| Class 13 | Basis of causal inference |
Explain the basic concepts and methods of causal inference using social survey data. (e.g. randomized controlled trial, difference-in-difference analysis, regression discontinuity design, propensity score analysis) |
| Class 14 | Reading literature on social science |
Read literature using social statistics and explain the relationship between results and discussion. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None required. (Note: Handouts based on several reference books are distributed in PDF format.)
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Hoel, P. G., 1976, Elementary Statistics, 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons; ISBN-13: 978-0471016946
Kezuka, K., 2022, Introduction to Statistics for Social Sciences, Kodansha.(In Japanese); ISBN-13: 978-4065284506
Yamamoto, I., 2015, Econometrics for Empirical Analysis, Chuokeizaisha.(In Japanese); ISBN-13: 978-4502168116
Evaluation methods and criteria
Grades are based on class participation (20%), short assignments (40%) and final report (40%).
Short assignments' overview: Review assignments for the content of each class day except the final class day (four assignments in total)
Final report's overview: Report on the results of specific analysis of different issues in contemporary society (Note: Due to grade reporting requirements, the submission period is expected to be approximately four to five days after the final class day.)
Related courses
- LAH.T101 ： Statistics A
- LAH.T301 ： Statistics C
- LAH.S434 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences38:Statistics
Prerequisites
Nothing in particular.
Other
This is an intensive course. If earning credits for this course is related to your graduation, eligibility for undergraduate major affiliation, or eligibility for the Bachelor’s Independent Research Project, please keep the following two points in mind and fully understand the risks before registering.
- Intensive courses are conducted over a short period, with multiple classes per day. As such, authorized absences are generally not accepted.
- There is a possibility that grades may not be reported in time for decisions on department/laboratory affiliation and graduation.