Scope and Methods in Political Science
Description
This course is an introduction to the field of political science and the process of political science research. Its overarching goal is to familiarize you with the scientific study of politics. We will apply a scientific approach to questions about political phenomena, instead of the more familiar approaches taken by politicians, interest groups, and popular media. We will learn how to ask empirical questions about politics, how to answer these questions scientifically using the appropriate types of evidence, and how to clearly convey our arguments to others. The course topics will include the logic of the scientific method, the measurement of political concepts, research design and methods of data collection, statistical techniques for analyzing data, and various quantitative and qualitative practices in the field of political science. At the end of the course, you should be comfortable reading and critiquing arguments about real world political problems. Learning to think scientifically in this manner is a skill that you will find useful in other political science courses and in your career as well. No background in statistics or mathematics beyond high school algebra is assumed. There are no prerequisites other than a desire to think about political problems in a systematic and critical fashion.
Slides
1 Introduction and Course Overview
Unit I: Theories and Hypotheses
2 The Scientific Method and Political Science
Unit II: Data and Measurement
Unit III: Quantitative Methods
12 Measuring Uncertainty with Confidence Intervals
13 The Hypothesis Testing Framework
16 Natural Experiments and Observational Studies
19 Regression with "Dummy Variables"
Unit IV: Qualitative Methods
20 Case Studies and Process-Tracing
22 Interviews, Fieldwork, and Ethnography
Unit V: Conclusion
24 Research Methods for Comparative Politics and American Politics
25 Research Methods for International Relations and Political Theory