Human Rights Syllabi: Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Spring 2001- International Affairs U8165 - Room 1101AB - Tuesdays 4:10-6:00 PM
| Appendix A-Project Instructions for Students | Appendix B-FAQ | Appendix C-Instructor Contact |
3 pts. Workshop covering the practical skills of project definition, working with clients, data collection, interviewing, fact-finding techniques, information system design, security, ethics, data analysis, presentation, and human rights reporting. Students carry out projects in the local area, receive guidance in using the skills discussed in the workshop and other courses to complete their projects.
Herbert F. Spirer, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs
B.E.P., Cornell University, 1951; M.S. (O.R.), NYU, 1965; Ph.D., NYU, 1970. Professor Emeritus of Operations and Information Management, MBA Program, University of Connecticut, 1970-1992. Statistical science consultant to Science and Human Rights Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science. UN's International Tribunals on the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, (1994-1997), consultant to NGOs on data analysis. Co-editor of: Ball, Spirer, and Spirer, Making the Case: Investigating Large Scale Human Rights Violations Using Information Systems and Data Analysis (2000);co-author of: Ball, Kobrak, and Spirer, State Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection, (1999), in English and Spanish; Spirer and Spirer, Data Analysis for Monitoring Human Rights, (1994), in French, Russian, and Indonesian; Spirer, Spirer, and Jaffe, Misused Statistics: Straight Talk about Twisted Numbers, (1987, 1998). Author of textbooks and papers on quantitative analysis for business and papers on applying data analysis to human rights. Chair of the American Statistical Association Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights (1990-1993). Fellow of the American Statistical Association (2000) in recognition of achievements in applying statistics to human rights.
The goal of the workshop is to give the students the practical skills and perspective to conceive their own practical investigations to meet the needs of real-world clients. Such clients include non-governmental organizations, governmental organizations, truth commissions, national and international courts, fact-finding missions, and international criminal tribunals.
Projects
Students work in teams of three to five, carrying out a project for a real-world client. There is no final examination, but students will orally present a report to the client and their classmates, and a written report to the client and instructor.
Although the workshop is primarily experiential, we use a number of methods, including seminars to develop concepts, mini-lectures, guest lecturers, and skills training workshops. Some topics (such as interviewing techniques) are covered through role-playing and in-class workshops. Guest lecturers give breadth to the practical aspects of the course. Working with the clients to define the project is an important part of the workshop learning experience.
Names of potential clients for which preliminary consulting arrangements have been made are posted on the web site (see Projects page on website). Contact me to discuss a project before the term starts (see "Contact Information," above). Because of the special nature of arrangements with clients, I may have to assign students to projects. To avoid serious problems at the end of the term, students should make a project commitment in the first week of classes. Because of the tight schedule, don't even think of signing up for the workshop after the second week.
Student groups relate to clients as consultants. The students define, plan, direct, and organize their activities with the assistance of the instructor. Project Instructions for Students, and Frequently Asked Questions for Clients are in the Appendix to this document.
Course work
Students complete assignments drawn from the text and relating to project. Students are expected to do analyses using EXCEL, or another program (such as SPSS) capable of analyzing data and producing charts. A portable computer is a convenience, but not required.
Introduction to analyzing data for human rights, expectations, form teams, determine project assignments, dealing with clients. Guest participant(s) to include one or more former workshop clients.
Case studies (State Violence in Guatemala, Survey of Kosovar Refugees, prior U8165 projects), fitting the project to the mission, clarity, credibility, uses of tables, what data are, databases, variable names, unit of analysis, ways of collecting data from deponents and documents, types of samples, controlled vocabulary.
Defining terms, human rights violation thesauri, operationalizing constructs, validity and reliability, kinds of bias (investigator, questionnaire, coverage, interviewer, reporting density, house, etc.), reducing bias, false data, detecting bias and false data, pilot testing.
Formulation of questions, practical issues of design of forms, open-ended vs. closed-end questionnaires, collecting demographic data, informal conversational interviews, standardized interviews, guided narrative interviews, when to use which kind, getting data from documents and media. Review of status of projects.
Kinds of data, string data in particular, crosstabulations for categorical data, uses of ranking, answering questions using crosstabulations, dependency and association, aggregation and disaggregation, row, column, and cell percentages, statistical reasoning and the Prosecutor's Fallacy, graphical presentation of tables.
Why needed, the nature of numerical data, using histograms to determine patterns and outliers, median, quartiles, extremes, mean, tables of summary measures, creating histograms, bins and frequency distributions, deriving information from comparisons of histograms, applying these methods to economic, social, and cultural rights.
Determining association and correlation with crosstabulations for string data, confounding factors, scatterplots and correlation for numerical data, deriving information about correlation from scatterplots, linear and curvilinear relationships, regression lines and curves, re-expression of variables, correlation in time, space, and combined time and space, concentration plots, time series.
Sampling methods, random and non-random, when to stratify, uses of observational studies, estimating totals, estimating summary measures, standard deviation, evaluating precision, confidence intervals, dealing with bias, how to express results, comparison of methods applicable to civil and political rights and those for social, economic, and cultural rights.
Guest lecturer. Dr. Patrick Ball, Associate Director, Science and Human Rights Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Discussion of information systems and the flow of data from the field to analysis.
Guest lecturer on security and ethics, William Seltzer, Senior Research Associate, Fordham University. Reporting results of investigations, form and content, best methods of presentation for different purposes, how to express qualifications, gain credibility through integrity of reporting.
Class exercises in carrying out analyses, making graphs, interpretations of statistical results. Includes demonstrations of work on EXCEL, SPSS, according to student needs. If you have a portable computer, please bring it to class.
Oral presentation of findings to class and guest participants, including clients. Review of status of project reports.
Notes:
Oral presentation of findings to class and guest participants, including clients. Review of status of project reports.
Notes:
Project reports must be in instructor's hands by this date for a grade to be recorded. Use whatever means of transmittal will assure delivery on time.
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