Coordination:
Dr. Ajay Bailey
Teaching:
Dr. Ajay Bailey, Prof. Dr. Inge Hutter, Prof. Dr. Leo van Wissen, Dr. Meredith Tavener, Dr. Hinke Haisma
Debbie Lager (student-assistant)
Workload: 5 ECTS (140 hours)
Assessment:
Participation during classes,
Exam counts for 100%,
In the course Research Process, the theoretical part of the research proposal is taken into account in the exam
Period: Semester 1a
Classes: Tuesday and Thursday 15.15-17.00 in room 5256.0212 (if otherwise, indicated in bold)
Objectives
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to get insight in theories on the demographic events of fertility, mortality and morbidity, and migration;
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to get insight in theories on decision making, motivation of behaviour, health seeking behaviour; institutions and cultural meaning system, as influencing demographic decision making and behaviour;
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to get insight in research projects of PRC that apply the theories mentioned above;
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to apply these theories to the topic of the Master's thesis, i.e. to describe relevant theories and being able to link these theories to the research topic and proposed study design (see course Research Process).
Content
The course presents an overview of the theoretical approaches in the research programme of the Department of Demography / the Population Research Centre. The present research programme is in the process of development and focuses on Population Change and Population, Health and Culture. Master theses of students of the MSc Population Studies are embedded within this research programme (see course Research Process).
Within the topic of Population Change, issues discussed are: population growth and population decline, transitions in fertility, transitions in mortality and morbidity, migration flows, the ageing of populations, and urbanization trends. Theories on the demographic transition, the epidemiological and nutrition transition, on migration and ageing are discussed in the course.
In addition, these population trends and indicators are seen as the outcome of a process (which can be behavioural, biological or probabilistic) involving a series of individual decision making and actions which take place in a certain (ecological, economic, social, political, cultural) context. This is called the process-context approach as worked in detail by De Bruijn (1999). The course discusses theories of decision making and motivation for demographic behaviour such as fertility, migration, subjective well-being, health (seeking) behaviour. Regarding the context, the course discusses how institutions or social networks and cultural meaning systems (including identity and gender) influence demographic decision making and behaviour.
The course thus reflects theoretical perspectives from demography but also relevant other scientific disciplines such as social psychology, sociology, economics and cultural anthropology.
Students get insight in all the different theories, at both macro and micro level, and specialize further in those theories that are relevant for their thesis. The literature thus consists of one or two basic article(s) per class, which are examined. Suggested literature is added for those who work on a particular issue.
Course design
Lectures
Target group
Master's students Population Studies. Optional course for other MSc students (after consultation with the coordinator).
