Research Design and Methods Fall
Semester, 2003 Office: Morton #31 (MW 10-11:30) mjtier@wm.edu
Government 301 is an introduction to the study of politics. It is designed to prepare undergraduates for the task of doing scholarly research. For most students this means preparation for an Honors Thesis or continued study of political science in graduate school. In this course you will explore the philosophy of science and the various tools of the methodologist that are used to study politics scientifically. You will also participate in the scientific study of politics and observe others as they attempt to do the same. You will find that political science (like all science) is a social enterprise.
Upon completion
of this course you should be able to:
Assess the state of a particular literature; identify interesting and
researchable questions; formulate strategies to answer these questions; search
for various types of information; create an organized data set; analyze both
qualitative and quantitative data; and work with your colleagues on research
questions. You will examine a particular
literature from American Politics, Comparative Politics or International Relations
depending on your sub-field of interest and the specific research interests of
class members. For this reason the
“first edition” of the syllabus has not been completely filled in with
substantive readings. Instead, the
readings will be interspersed with chapters from the two required texts. King Keohane and Verba’s Designing
Social Inquiry, and Johnson and Joslyn’s Political Science Research Methods
are both available at the College bookstore.
We will also read portions of an unpublished manuscript by Collier and
Brady entitled, Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared
Standards. All other
required readings will be made available in a reading packet from Staples
Office Supply store, the Government Department Copy Room (#19) and/or through the
course web page.
This course will
be conducted as a research seminar (with a healthy dose of short lectures on
the nuts and bolts of methodology). The
interests and research projects of individual students will dictate the content
of the course (or at least the exemplary articles that we read in order to
illustrate certain methods). Therefore
students are responsible for locating interesting articles and books within
their sub-field that illuminate the issues we are discussing in class for that
week. This will help to familiarize you
with your chosen sub-field, and it will also provide us with fodder for
discussion using data and models that are directly related to your own research
projects. Specific graded assignments
follow:
Class
Participation 15%
Mid-Term Exam 20%
Literature
Review and Analysis of an empirical field of study (7-10 pages) 10%
Thesis
Prospectus (10-20 pages) 10%
Revised Thesis
Prospectus with Initial Findings (15-30 pages) 20%
Oral
Presentation of Prospectus and Findings (During Finals) 10%
Discussion and
Analysis of Colleague’s Research 10%
Computer
Proficiency Homework Assignments
5%
Required
Recommended
Assignment:
First cut at your research question
Issues for Discussion:
Knowledge through Science; Normative vs
Positive Theory; Inductive and Deductive Reasoning; What is theory and why
bother it?
Kazsa
Letter on the Perestroika Movement in the APSA
“Mr. Pravda’s” Satire of
the Perestroika Movement in APSA
Geertz,
“Thick Description”
Geertz,
“Notes on a Balinese Cockfight”
Schwartz, “Participation
and Multisubjective Understanding”
Issues for Discussion:
Scientific Revolutions;
Numerous Examples Posted
under “Assignments”
Assignment: Employ Computer based searches using ALL
of the following tools: Annual Reviews,
APSA Proceedings, Social Science Citation Index, First Search (Article First), Infotrac, Lexis-Nexis Academic, PAIS, Ingenta,
Project Muse, JSTOR, Lion, and Google. Pare down a
list of 20 papers or books that you intend to consult as you write your
literature review. You will start with
many more than 20, but I would like you to submit a list with your “Top 20”
sources at this point.
McDonald and Popkin, “Voter Turnout”
Chris Howard, “Cross
National Measures of the Welfare State”
Joel Schwartz on
“Participation”
Dimock, “Screening Likely Voters: A Survey Experiment”
Assignment: Locate quantitative data relevant to your
research – Submit report with variable description, scatterplots,
and frequency distribution
B. Statistics, Causal Inference, and Counterfactual Analysis
Fearon,
“Causes and Counterfactuals in Social Science”
Cederman,
“Re-Running History”
Dawes, “Counterfactual
Inferences”
Jervis, “Counterfactuals
and Complexity”
C. Alternative Approaches to Causality
KKV Chapter 4
Examples of Multi-Method Research Design: (You read one!)
Joe Soss,
“Lessons From the Welfare Debate”
Fenno, Homestyle
Schultz, Crisis Bargaining
Stone, Lending Credibility
Martin, Democratic
Commitments
Putnam, Making Democracy Work
Iyengar, Peters and Kinder, “Experiment on Media Exposure”
Bennett and Lepgold, “Burden Sharing in the Gulf War”
Legro, “Least Likely Case Method”
McFaul,
“Privatization in
Bennett,
“Case Study Research”
C. Sampling and Variable Bias
Geddes,
“Selection Bias”
D. Data Collection Techniques
John Gilmour (Document
Analysis) and Larry Evans (Elite Interviews)
B. Bivariate Data Analysis
C. Multivariate Data Analysis
Assignment: Analyze quantitative data from your
project using one or more techniques discussed in class.
A. Presentation Skills
B. Serving as a Discussant
List of Potential Vistors/Presenters: (Final Schedule Subject to Change) As part of this
course you will be required to attend the Government Department Research
Seminar which meets every other Friday from
From William and
Mary:
John Gilmour – Studies U.S. Congress – Discussing
Document Analysis and Coding for his project on Presidential Vetoes.
Stephen Ndegwa
– Studies Comparative Politics and
David Dessler – International Relations – “A Frequentist Logic of Scientific
Inference.” (Scheduled for September 19th)
Simon Stowe – Political Theory – “Interpreting and
Re-interpreting Texts or Why are Red Pencils Red? (Hey, he is a theorist.) (Scheduled for September 26th)
Larry Evans – U.S. Congress – Creating usable data
through semi-structured elite interviews.
He interviews both members and their staffs in order to generate his
data.
Jenny Kehl
– Comparative Politics of Development – TBA
Steven Shellman
– International Relations and Intrastate Conflict - TBA
Outside Visitors
Jim Wright – Former Speaker of the House of
Representatives. No paper, probably just
cool war stories. (September 12th)
Debbie Avant –
Kurt Gaubatz
–
Michael McDonald –
Rebecca Bill –