Teaching and Training

Teaching and Training

Basic training

We offer our students introductory courses to spatial analysis applied to social sciences and other data analysis techniques.

Advanced courses

These are courses on more advanced techniques, destined to those already familiar to basic tools.

Tailored Training

These courses are aimed at concrete audiences, fulfilling specific or sectoral needs.

Internships

We provide solid methodological training to students collaborating in our projects.

Experience

CompassLab have a large experience in university teaching and training in spatial analysis.

Our courses are oriented towards providing students with a broad range of practical knowledge in those spatial analysis techniques applied to social science research.

Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences.
Space, Power and Society in Latin America.
Introduction to Spatial Analysis using R.
Social Networks and Space.

Our Courses

Space, Power and Society in Latin America

This course aims at providing a panoramic account of spatial analysis held in Latin America from different perspectives from social sciences and humanities. In this respect, we will briefly introduce those spatial analyses centered on: voting and political dynamics; the economic matrix and the uneven economic development, as well as participatory cartography - this last employed extensively by social and ethnic movements as an empowerment technique and as a tool for creating public debate. We will also introduce the geography of cultural representations, as well as the one related to ethnolinguistic groups living in the region.

This course is destined to those interested in the spacial aspects of different fields of social sciences in Latin America.

Prerequisites: there are no prerequisites.

Duration: 20 hours.

Topics:

Mapping Latin America: Spatial analysis in social sciences and its diffusion in Latin America.
State, territory and power
Geographically uneven development and public policy
Participatory Cartography
Space and Culture

This course will be held between February 22nd and 25th 2016 at the Institute of Iberoamerican Studies of the University of Salamanca.

The syllabus can be found here.

Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences

“Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences” aims at providing a basic methodological framework for the analysis of social questions from a spatial perspective. Therefore, this is a predominantly introductory and methodological effort, with the purpose of familiarizing students with spatial thinking and basic spatial and cartographic techniques and concepts. The topics covered include a theoretical presentation of “how space matters” in the Social Sciences, the definition of fundamental steps in identifying spatial models and relationships, the preparation of social data for spatial analysis, the employment of different visualization techniques, and the introduction to some elements of geostatistics.

This course is destined to those people interested in basic concepts and methods of spatial analysis applied to social sciences.

Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge on statistics, Excel and statistical packages such as SPPS are recommended (although not mandatory).

Duration: 20 hours.

Topics:

Sources and preparation of social data for spatial analysis
Spatial data visualization (maps, histograms, etc.)
The main operations using geographic data
ESDA - Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis
The notion of neighborhood and its many types
Spatial autocorrelation and spatial clusters

This course will be held between March 14th and 18th, 2016 at the Political Science Department of the Pernambuco Federal University - UFPE (Brazil).

Electoral Geography: Applications and Methods

This intensive course has the core aim of introducing electoral geography, describing briefly its central debates and those methods that are most employed by researchers in the field. More specifically, it enables students to identify:

some key concepts of the (sub)discipline
its theoretical development over time and its main schools
the more recurrent methods employed in the analyses

Besides, the tools and data employed in the course are briefly introduced, requiring just a basic knowledge on how to use GIS.

This courses was designed to students, researchers, electoral campaign advisors and journalists interested in forecasting and analytical techniques applied to elections.

Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge on electoral systems, statistics, Excel and statistical packages such as SPPS are recommended.

Duration: 40 hours.

Topics:

The development of electoral geography
From maps to the spatial analysis of vote
The spatiality of political representation
Vote and sociodemographic characteristics
Scale, location and electoral forecasting

This course is offered to closed groups.

For more information, please, write us: compass@usal.es.

Maps and Spatial Analysis using R

This course has the same fundamental concept of “Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences”. Nonetheless, its difference is the emphasis put on the strict connection required between a statistical package and a Geographical Information System (GIS) when performing data analysis.

While “Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences” is based mainly on GIS software to introduce spatial concepts and models to students, this course advances in terms on how to combine statistics and GIS within R in order to enhance productivity. Most of spatial analysis is focused on geostatistics and GIS packages are severely limited when data manipulation and diversity of spatial statistical models are concerned. R enables overcoming these limitations while providing, at the same time, a platform for basic cartography and the confection of innovative exploratory maps and spatial visualizations (particularly the combination of maps and other statistical graphics).

This course was conceived for students, researchers and others interested in enhancing productivity in data and spatial analysis applied to the social sciences.

Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge on statistics and on Excel are recommended. Basic knowledge on R is mandatory.

Duration: 20 hours.

Topics:

General concepts and the representation of social phenomena in space
Sources and the preparation of data
Making maps
The geographic analysis of social phenomena
The statistical analysis of social patterns in space

This course is offered to closed groups.

For more information, please, write us: compass@usal.es.

Introduction to Social Data Analysis using R

This course offers an introduction to basic techniques of data analysis to Social Sciences students, using the R statistical package as platform. It intends to provide a general perspective on what can be understood as data, databases, the main techniques of analysis employed in the social sciences and how to implement them using the R environment. Besides, we will explore the high-level graphic resources available in R – one of its strong characteristics – and look into strategies designed to format, organize and present data in an academic format suitable for publication.

This course is focused on students, researchers and others interested in using the R statistical package in the analysis of social data.

Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge on statistics, Excel and statistical packages such as SPPS are recommended.

Duration: 20 hours.

Topics:

The R environment and the construction of a social database
EDA - Exploratory Data Analysis
Graphics using R
Hypotheses testing, finding patterns, highlighting differences
Establishing causal relations

This course is offered to closed groups.

For more information, please, write us: compass@usal.es.

Colors

Our Work

Basic training

Advanced courses

Tailored Training

Internships

Experience

Our Courses

Space, Power and Society in Latin America

Cartography and Maps in the Social Sciences

Electoral Geography: Applications and Methods

Maps and Spatial Analysis using R

Introduction to Social Data Analysis using R