Demographic training
- Places greater emphasis on time-varying factors, like exposure over time, age-related processes, and population change
- Carefully defines the population and, thus, who is “at risk” for various events
- Focus on population size, composition, spatial distribution, population change, and population health
"Home" program training
- Places greater emphasis on relatively stable or contextual factors, like important groups, places, social organizations, cultures, and other structures
- Articulates theoretical mechanisms and, thus how & why various events occur
- Focus on field-specific constructs & conceptualizations
Dual-title integration
- Population Studies courses are designed to integrate demographic topics & concerns with the theories & scientific literatures of the "home" program
- Qualifying exams and comprehensive exams reflect students' training in both their "home" program & demography
- Students' Master's theses and Dissertations explore one of the following:
- how important factors emphasized by the “home” program alter population’s demographic characteristics & individual experiences (i.e., how "home" program factors affect demography)
- how population composition and careful consideration of the population at risk influences the frequency and nature of an important event for the "home" program and, thus, has potential empirical or theoretical implications for the "home" field (i.e., how demography affects the "home" program)
- how demographic patterns & processes interact with “home” program factors to affect individual, group & population outcomes (i.e., how demography and the "home" program work in concert)