Bachelor in Data and Society 

at University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw

Type of exam: Written exam in the form of an essay

Topics for essay:

• Observing space vs. data about space - Observe a specific public space in your city at different times of the day over a week. What patterns of behaviour do you notice? How might your observations differ from official data about this space (visitor statistics, data from cameras, mobile applications)? What can be measured, and what cannot be captured in numbers?
• Your digital community in numbers and stories - Analyse your digital interactions from the past week (social media, instant messaging, online games). What data about yourself and others do you generate? How does the image of your community, based on ‘hard’ data (the number of contacts, the frequency of communication), differ from your subjective feelings about the closeness and importance of relationships?
• Local event: facts, figures and impressions - Select a recent event in your community. Compare official data about it (attendance, costs, media coverage) with your own observations and conversations with participants. How do these perspectives differ? What do the statistics miss, and what might be invisible to an observer?
• Your educational database - Analyse your own “educational data” (grades, test results, subject choices, study time) and compare it with your own feelings about learning and development. How well do the numbers describe your actual knowledge and skills? What aspects of your development are not reflected in the official data?
• Family demographics vs. family history – Create a ‘demographic profile’ of your family (age, education, income, place of residence, migration history). Then describe how these dry facts translate into everyday life, relationships and decisions. What do the statistics not show that is key to understanding your family?
• Invisible rules in the data age - Observe people's behaviour in a selected environment (school, work, public transport) for several days. What unwritten rules do you notice? How can they be measured or documented? Which aspects of social life in this place can be ‘digitised’, and which will remain elusive to algorithms and databases?

Formal requirements: 

• 1800 – 2500 characters (without spaces), font size 12, line spacing 1.5, min. 3 academic sources in the bibliography (citation style according to chosen format, e.g., the Chicago Manual of Style, Harvard Style)
• Language: English

Evaluation criteria:

• Structure and organization of the text (0–5 points)
• Style and linguistic correctness (0–5 points)
• Substantive content (0–5 points)
• Originality of conclusions and argumentation (0–5 points)

The essay will be assessed on a scale of 0–20 points. A minimum of 10 points is required to pass. Admission will be granted to candidates with the highest scores within the established limit of available places.

We encourage to start preparing essay in advance.