Course Outline
Due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Nuffield Undergraduate Scholars Institute will not run in summer 2020 as planned. We expect to run the programme in 2021.
The six-week NUSI programme is divided into two parts:
- Two weeks of hands-on training in research design and statistical computing, through both lectures and data labs taught by world-leading academics
- A four-week research internship with a Nuffield College academic
In 2020, NUSI will run from Monday 6 July to Friday 14 August inclusive.
Two Weeks of Training and Coursework
NUSI begins with two weeks of morning course sessions, including lectures on research design and quantitative methods as well as statistical computing labs. Afternoons will be devoted to class projects and professional development seminars. We expect you will work around 35 hours each week, with some unscheduled time to explore Oxford.
Formal coursework on quantitative methods will be delivered at an introductory level, so the programme is appropriate for students with little prior background and training in statistics and research design.
A sample schedule for the two weeks of training is given below; please note that some sessions may be adapted. The confirmed schedule will be available nearer the time.
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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10:00 - 12:00 |
Introduction, Research Design | Sampling | Measurement | Descriptive Statistics | Statistical Inference |
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12:00 - 13:00 |
Lunch | ||||
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13:00 - 15:00 |
Class Project Work | ||||
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15:30 - 16:30 |
Professional Development Seminars and Guest Lectures. Topics may include Preparation for Graduate Applications, Graduate Student Funding, Career Paths with a DPhil/PhD, Research Ethics | ||||
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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10:00 - 12:00 |
Bivariate Relationships | Multivariate Relationships | Course Review | ||
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12:00 - 13:00 |
Lunch | ||||
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13:00 - 15:00 |
Class Project Work | ||||
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15:30 - 16:30 |
Professional Development Seminars and Guest Lectures. Topics may include Preparation for Graduate Applications, Graduate Student Funding, Career Paths with a DPhil/PhD, Research Ethics | ||||
Four-Week Research Internship
The last four weeks of NUSI will be dedicated to a research internship. Each participant will work on an individual internship directed by a senior Nuffield College and Oxford University academic. This work will be more self-directed, but we expect that participants will again be working roughly 35 hours per week.
Internship topics will be finalised in the spring before participants arrive, based on the internships directors' current research projects.
Where possible, we will try to align participants' internships with their research interests as stated in their applications, but fit with a particular project will not form part of the overall selection process.
We expect that the social science research training and experience provided by all internships will be valuable to participants, even if the area they are researching is not one with which they are already familiar.
To see what the 2019 NUSI participants worked on during their research internships, see the NUSI 2019 page.
Programme Goals
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Across the six weeks, NUSI aims to:
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