The Princeton Sociology Summer Methods Camp gives incoming Sociology PhD students a running start at the beginning of their PhD program. The computational and statistical training provides necessary foundation for statistics and methods classes. We understand that participants come into the program with different backgrounds and experiences, and the Summer Methods Camp will be helpful for everyone, regardless of background.
This 2023 Summer Methods Camp will take place on 4 days: Thursday, August 24; Friday, August 25; Monday, August 28; Tuesday, August 29. Camp will run from 9am to 4pm in 165 Wallace Hall. Angela Li and Varun Satish are this year’s graduate student instructors and Professor Matthew Salganik is the faculty advisor. There will be 2 summer assignments due over the summer before the in-person portion of Methods Camp.
We have made code and slides used in the 2023 methods camp available on the Princeton Methods Camp GitHub page.
The Methods Camp is designed to give you training in both math and computing. In math, you will receive training in three main areas: calculus, probability, and matrix algebra. In computing, you will receive training in three main areas: data wrangling, iteration, and visualization.
At the end of the Methods Camp, students will be able to:
In order to prepare you for the coding portion of the summer assignment and work we will be doing during the camp, we require you to complete the following RStudio Primers. These will be especially helpful if you have limited experience with R. Based on feedback from previous graduate students, practicing R coding is one of the best ways to prepare over the summer for the graduate statistics sequence.
The Basics (all sub-modules)
Work With Data (all sub-modules)
Visualize Data - (Exploratory Data Analysis and Scatterplots sub-modules)
Write Functions (complete Function Basics and How to Write a Function)
We have left open an option of an exemption from this part of the assignment. To request an exemption please email Angela and Varun an example of some code you have written, including the date of the code, purpose, and a 1-2 sentence explanation of what the code does.
Breakfast: 9:00 AM
Morning session, math: 9:30 - 11:30 AM
Lunch session (with guest speakers): 12:00 - 1:30 PM
Afternoon session, programming : 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Location: 165 Wallace Hall
Office hours: Angela and Varun will discuss options at the beginning of the camp.
Math: Calculus and its Applications
Lunchtime speaker: Adam Goldstein
Computing: Review of Basics
Math: Linear Algebra
Lunchtime speaker: Patricia Fernandez-Kelly
Computing: Functions and the Apply family
Math: Basic Probability
Lunchtime speaker: Janet Vertesi
Computing: Data Cleaning and more Advanced Manipulation
In day 4 we will be working on a mini-project with the Stanford Open Policing Project’s data (link).
This section contains information on important dates and other logistical concerns. These are still being finalized and subject to change.
Our primary means of communication and your primary resource for answering questions will be email. Just be sure to CC both of us and one of us will get back to you as quick as possible.
Important Dates:
June 24: Last date to submit assignment 1
August 11: Last date to submit assignment 2
August 21: Early campus move in date
August 24-25 and August 28-29: In-person methods camp
Should I participate in the camp if I have no plans to do quantitative work beyond what’s required? Yes! The aim of the camp is to make all students feel comfortable approaching the statistics training in the first year of the program, which in turn, is a crucial foundation for the second year empirical paper and future work. Both of us are available over email over the summer and will be holding daily office hours during the camp itself, and we’re both happy to spend extra time working with anyone more nervous about the quantitative requirements in the program to make sure you feel comfortable about the pace of the camp and related assignments.
Should I participate in the camp if I am highly confident about everything math and programming-related? Yes! Quantitative training means different things at different places, and the department wants to make sure everyone is on the same page going into the statistics sequence so that time isn’t spent during the course reviewing foundational concepts. In addition, the camp will feature lunchtime workshops highlighting qualitative methodology in the department, which is a good chance to meet professors you may not know already and get a sense of the range of the department’s work.
How does this camp fit into the first-year statistics sequence? The purpose of the camp is so that you can hit the ground running in whatever statistics sequence you opt to take your first year– both in terms of foundational math concepts and computing in R.
The Sociology Summer Methods Camp began in 2016, and the materials that we currently use include contributions from many of the people who have taught and participated in the program. Here is a list of all the instructors:
We would also like to acknowledge the many other people who have shaped the material including: the instructional staff of the Math Camp for the Department of Politics at Princeton and the instructional staff of the Math Camp for the Department of Government at Harvard.
All of the teaching materials that we created are available on GitHub. Please feel free to use and improve them.