Please note:

To view the current Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar.html.

Social Data Analytics Minor

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, with the Departments of Economics, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Political Science, along with the Departments of English, Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, and Statistics and Actuarial Science, and the School of Communication, offers a minor in Social Data Analytics (SDA). This program offers an interdisciplinary study of statistical and computational methods with an emphasis on the privacy, ethical, and societal issues surrounding technology and big data. It is intended to complement and build on the knowledge and deeper understanding of issues that students acquire from their major program of study in the Arts and Social Sciences and related disciplines. 

The program is managed by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. An advisory committee consisting of representatives from the above departments serve as a liaison between participating departments and the program director.

Admission Requirements

Program admission is limited. Entry is via a formal minor program application and applications will be considered for both students entering Simon Fraser University and those already enrolled. Students may apply for admission to the minor program at any time. It is strongly recommended that students contact the Social Data Analytics advisor or program director early about admission and scheduling.

Program Requirements

Students must complete at least 27 units as follows:

Complete all of:

SDA 250 - Computational Text Analysis (4) or LING 250 - Computational Text Analysis (4)
SDA 270 - Data, Ethics and Society (3) or PHIL 270 - Data, Ethics and Society (3)
SDA 490 - Capstone Project Seminar (5)

Complete one of:

ECON 233 - Introduction to Economic Data and Statistics (3)
POL 201 - Introductory Quantitative Methods in Political Science (4)
STAT 203 - Introduction to Statistics for the Social Sciences (3)

Complete one of:

ECON 334 - Data Visualization and Economic Analysis (3)
POL 390 - Data Visualization and Political Analysis (3)
STAT 240 - Introduction to Data Science (3)
STAT 310 - Introduction to Data Science for the Social Sciences (4)

Elective Requirements

Students complete a total of at least nine elective units, as follows:

No more than four units of which may come from:

CMNS 353 - Topics in Science, Technology and Society (4)
ENGL 363 - Studies in Media Cultures (4)
GSWS 399 - Gender, Sex and Numbers (4)
POL 318 - Fake News and Alt-Facts: Navigating Post-Truths Politics (4)
POL 426W - Political Behavior (4)

Any of:

ECON 329 - Experimental Economics (3)
ECON 335 - Cause and Effect in Economic Data (3)
ECON 435 - Econometric Methods (5)
GEOG 255 - Geographical Information Science I (3)
GEOG 355 - Geographical Information Science II (4)
LING 450 - Computational Linguistics (3)
PHIL 315 - Formal Methods (3)
POL 315 - Intermediate Quantitative Methods (4)
POL 488 - Topics in Empirical Research Design and Analysis (4)
STAT 302 - Analysis of Experimental and Observational Data (3)
STAT 360 - Advanced R for Data Science (3)
STAT 452 - Statistical Learning and Prediction (3)

With approval of the program director, up to six units of relevant courses from other departments may be counted for the minor.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Degree Requirements

For all bachelor of arts (BA) programs, students complete 120 units, which includes

  • at least 60 units that must be completed at Simon Fraser University
  • at least 45 upper division units, of which at least 30 upper division units must be completed at Simon Fraser University
  • at least 60 units (including 21 upper division units) in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences courses
  • satisfaction of the writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements
  • an overall cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and upper division overall CGPA of at least 2.0, and program CGPA and upper division program CGPA of at least 2.0 on the course work used to satisfy the minimum program requirements. FASS departments may define additional GPA requirements for their respective programs.

For students in other faculties, please check your faculty's overall degree requirements: https://www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/faculties-research.html

Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements

Students admitted to Simon Fraser University beginning in the fall 2006 term must meet writing, quantitative and breadth requirements as part of any degree program they may undertake. See Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements for university-wide information.

WQB Graduation Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required to earn W, Q or B credit

Requirement

Units

Notes
W - Writing

6

Must include at least one upper division course, taken at Simon Fraser University within the student's major subject; two courses (minimum three units each)

Q - Quantitative

6

Q courses may be lower or upper division; two courses (total six units or more)
B - Breadth

18

Designated Breadth

Must be outside the student's major subject, and may be lower or upper division:

Two courses (total six units or more) Social Sciences: B-Soc
Two courses (total six units or more) Humanities: B-Hum
Two courses (total six units or more) Sciences: B-Sci

6

Additional Breadth

Two courses (total six units or more) outside the student's major subject (may or may not be B-designated courses, and will likely help fulfil individual degree program requirements).

Students choosing to complete a joint major, joint honours, double major, two extended minors, an extended minor and a minor, or two minors may satisfy the breadth requirements (designated or not designated) with courses completed in either one or both program areas.