380.603.01
Demographic Methods for Public Health

Location
East Baltimore
Term
2nd Term
Department
Population, Family and Reproductive Health
Credit(s)
4
Academic Year
2024 - 2025
Instruction Method
In-person
Class Time(s)
Tu, Th, 3:30 - 5:20pm
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
Yes
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Mary Elizabeth Hughes
Contact Name
Mary Hughes
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Prerequisite
Description
Teaches students the basic methods demographers use to describe populations and analyze population change. Introduces the concept of a population, describes the demographic approach to populations, and identifies sources of population data. Covers four sets of methods with broad applicability in public health: 1) techniques for describing population composition, distribution, and growth; 2) methods to compare populations (age-period-cohort approaches and standardization and decomposition of rates); 3) single-decrement life tables; and 4) the cohort-component method for population projection. Covers the basic tools used to study the fundamental population processes of fertility, mortality, and migration.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Analyze population growth, components of growth, composition, and distribution
  2. Differentiate and apply age, period, and cohort approaches to population data
  3. Utilize standardization to compare populations across time and space
  4. Create and interpret single-decrement life tables
  5. Project a population’s size and age-sex composition using the cohort-component method
  6. Calculate and interpret measures of mortality, fertility, and migration
  7. Locate appropriate sources of demographic data and describe their limitations
  8. Explain the role of quantitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
  • 40% In-class Exercises
  • 60% Four long assignments
Instructor Consent
No consent required
Special Comments

This is the onsite section of a course also held virtual/online. You are responsible for the modality in which you register.