This course introduces mathematical and computational models to study social systems, the mathematical software package MATLAB, and the process of scientific research.
Students develop a significant project, implementing a model and communicating their results through a seminar thesis and a short oral presentation.
Objective
The students should learn how to use MATLAB as a tool to solve various scientific problems. MATLAB is an integrated environment with a high level programming language which makes it possible to quickly find numerical solutions to a wide range of scientific problems. Furthermore, it includes a rich set of tools for graphically presenting the results.
After the students have learned the basic structure of the programming language, they should be able to implement social simulation models in MATLAB and document their skills through a seminar thesis and finally give a short oral presentation.
Content
This course introduces first the basic functionalities and features of the mathematical software package MATLAB, such as the simple operations with matrices and vectors, differential equations, statistical tools, the graphical representation of data in various forms, and video animations of spatio-temporal data. With this knowledge, students are expected to implement themselves in MATLAB, models of various social processes and systems, including agent-based models, e.g. models of interactive decision making, group dynamics, human crowds, or game-theoretical models.
Part of this course will consist of supervised programming exercises in a computer pool. Credit points are finally earned for the implementation of a mathematical model from the sociological literature in MATLAB and the documentation in a seminar thesis.
Lecture notes
The lecture slides will be presented on the course web page after each lecture.
Literature
Literature, in particular regarding computer models in the social sciences, will be provided in the course.
Prerequisites / Notice
The number of participants is limited to the size of the available computer teaching room. The MATLAB code related to the seminar thesis should be well enough documented for further use by others and must be handed over to the Chair of Sociology, in particular of Modeling and Simulation, for further free and unrestricted use.
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Repetition possible without re-enrolling for the course unit.
Additional information on mode of examination
Students have to implement an established mathematical model from the computational social science literature in MATLAB. During the course students have to submit a short proposal specifying their project. At the end, projects must be documented in a 15 page seminar thesis and presented in a 15 minute seminar talk. The thesis should include a discussion of the mathematical model, its theoretical concept, properties of the model, and parameter dependencies, but also possible practical implications.