Human Development and Social Policy

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum is designed to provide integrated training in human development, methods and policy. A core set of classes in these three areas is required of all students and consists of the following courses:

Development
HDSP 401		PROSEMINAR IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY Conceptual framework for studying human development, socialization and social policy. Theoretical and empirical studies.

HDSP 413		THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Biological bases and interactions with the social and physical environments as sources of human development. Social, emotional and cognitive aspects of development. Theorists include Bowly, Erikson, Piaget, Vygotsky, Mead and Gardner.
And a subset of the following courses, depending on the concentration:
HDSP 402		CHILD DEVELOPMENT Major theories and current empirical research concerning cognitive and social/emotional development of children. Interaction of internal maturational factors with effects of families, peers and schools.

HDSP 403		ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT Biological, cognitive and social development during adolescence. Social institutions and policies that affect the well-being of adolescents.

HDSP 404		ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING Concepts, theories and research on development and adaptation from early adulthood through aging: age periods, transitions, cognitive, moral and faith development; psychosocial and ego development; defense mechanisms; death and dying.
Methods Three courses in research methodology and statistical techniques, two of which must be in statistics. Students typically take:
STAT 330-1		APPLIED STATISTICS forRESEARCH 1 Design of experiments and surveys, numerical summaries of data, graphical summaries of data, correlation and regression, probability, sample mean, sample proportion, confidence intervals and tests of significance, one and two sample problems, ANOVA

STAT 330-2		APPLIED STATISTICS for RESEARCH 2 Simple linear regression, inference, diagnostics, multiple regression diagnosis, autocorrelation, 1-way ANOVA, power and sample size determination, 2-way ANOVA, randomized block designs.

SOCIOL 404		DESIGNS FOR DESCRIPTIVE CAUSAL RESEARCH IN FIELD SETTINGS

HDSP 432		FIELD METHODS AND SOCIAL POLICY The contribution of ethnography to the study of social policy. Strengths and weaknesses of this method for study of governmental programs’ impact on clients and participants.
Policy
HDSP 430		ECONOMICS OF SOCIAL POLICY Economic context for social policy (economic crisis, unemployment, poverty); household economics; labor market theory and studies; economics rationales for social policy.
Two of the following three courses:
HDSP 429		SOCIAL-COMMUNITY INTERVENTIONS

HDSP 433		MODERN THEORIES OF THE STATE AND SOCIAL POLICY Recent theories of social policy in the context of the welfare state. Analysis of alternative theories and their implications for contemporary problems in social policy.

HDSP 440		THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL POLICY Framework for understanding the structure and process of development. How existing social policies can be analyzed and new policies developed.