University of St Andrews

The course develops students' understanding of the classical linear econometric model (ordinary least squares). It covers a range of topics, including estimation and inference in multivariate regression models; the use of limited dependent variables; large sample properties of OLS estimators; multicollinearity and heteroskedasticity. The course develops students' applied skills through the use of appropriate econometric software.

This course introduces students to a range of 21st Century literature written in English with a focus on crisis in the contemporary moment. It equips students with critical ideas and theoretical concepts that will help them to understand the literature of their own time. Students consider examples of a range of genres: poetry, creative non-fiction, the essay, and fiction. Students are encouraged to read texts in a number of contexts and will consider writers’ responses to, for instance: displacement, environmental change, geopolitical conflict, austerity, Black Lives Matter, the contemporary archive, desire and the overarching issue of crisis. They also consider a range of aesthetic innovations, for example: the turn to creative non-fiction, the re-emergence of the political essay, the development of the prose poem. Overall, the course considers how writers are responding to crises of the present period and how, through their writing, they model modes of agency.

The Zhuangzi 莊子 is an ancient text from the Warring States period (476 – 221 BC) of what is now China. Traditionally ascribed to a single author, Zhuang Zhou, it is now generally regarded as a compilation of many texts, spanning many decades but united by key themes. These themes raise challenges to some fundamental philosophical orthodoxies: the possibility of genuine knowledge, the existence of consistent identifiable standards in morality and reasoning, the power of language to successfully communicate thoughts, the stability of personal identity, even the ontological distinctness of things. This course covers key chapters of this radical and mysterious text and introduces students to some of the philosophical scholarship on it. All texts are read in annotated English translations, but consideration is given to the unique properties of the original language and the difficulties of accurate translation.

This course focuses on the design and conduct of qualitative research. It explores the epistemological foundations on which different strands of qualitative research rest, introduces students to a range of techniques for collecting qualitative data, and helps students consider methodological questions related to the conduct of qualitative research. The unit encourages critical thinking about what constitutes the field and data, as well as about issues of ethics, positionality, voice, representation, and the hermeneutic location of records and data.