- Winter 2021
Syllabus Description:
Smith's grading scale here
the full syllabus here
Zoom link to lectures, Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-4:20: https://washington.zoom.us/j/92781881503
Zoom link to section AA, Fridays 11:30-12:20: https://washington.zoom.us/j/94581343262
Zoom link to section AB, Fridays 12:30-1:20: https://washington.zoom.us/j/96635286325
Zoom link to Professor Smith's office hours, Mondays and Wednesdays 5:00-6:00: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97761974017
Zoom link to Mathieu Dubeau's office hours, Wednesdays 12:00-2:00:
https://washington.zoom.us/j/99389967668
Part I: Political Science as a Discipline
Tuesday, January 5 Introduction to the course (video recording) (slides)
Thursday, January 7 The science in political science (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Molly Ott, Introduction to Scientific Inquiry & Social Science Research
Friday, January 8 Section AA (video recording) (slides)
Friday, January 8 Section AB (video recording) (slides)
Tuesday, January 12 Theories, models, and causation (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Armin Trost, Research Question & Hypothesis
Part II: Quantitative Research in Political Science
Thursday, January 14 The challenges of demonstrating causation (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Tulia Falleti and Julia Lynch, Context and Causal Mechanisms in Political Analysis
Friday, January 15 Section AA (video recording) (slides)
Friday, January 15 Section AB (video recording) (slides)
Tuesday, January 19 Conceptualization and measurement, part 1 (video recording) (slides)
Recommended preparation: Armin Trost, Measurement
Section assignment #1, due at 8:00 PM
Thursday, January 21 Conceptualization and measurement, part 2 (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation:
Measuring Attitudes Likert Scales
Friday, January 22 Section AA (video recording) (slides)
Friday, January 22 Section AB (video recording) (slides)
Tuesday, January 26 Midterm exam
Thursday, January 28 Sampling, part 1 (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation:
Molly Ott, Quantitative Sampling
James Clear, Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Friday, January 29 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, January 29 Section AB (video recording)
Tuesday, February 2 Sampling, part 2 (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Armin Trost, Survey Design part 1
Thursday, February 4 Surveys and survey research (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Armin Trost, Survey Design part 2
Friday, February 5 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, February 5 Section AB (video recording)
Tuesday, February 9 Surveys and survey research (video recording) (slides part 1) (slides part 2)
recommended preparation:
Pew Research Center, Questionnaire Design
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz on Google Trends and Coronavirus (you can either listen to the podcast or read the transcript)
Thursday, February 11 Descriptive and inferential statistics (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation: Molly Ott, Inferential Statistics
Friday, February 12 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, February 12 Section AB (video recording)
Part III: Making Inferences about Politics
Tuesday, February 16 Hypothesis testing and inferential statistics (video recording) (slides part 1) (slides part 2)
Daniel Stockemer and Rodrigo Praino, Blinded by Beauty: Physical Attractiveness and Candidate Selection in the U.S. House of Representatives
Thursday, February 18 Linear regression, part 1 (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation:
Brandon Foltz, Linear Regression: The Very Basics
Brandon Foltz, Linear Regression, Algebra, Equations, and Patterns
Carlos Algara et al., The Interactive Effects of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on COVID-19 Social Distancing Compliance
Friday, February 19 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, February 19 Section AB(video recording)
Tuesday, February 23 Bivariate regression and multiple regression (video recording) (slides)
Recommended preparation:
Brandon Fultz, Multiple Linear Regression: The Very Basics
Brandon Fultz, Multiple Linear Regression: Data Preparation
Christopher Ellis and Joseph Ura, Polarization and the Decline of Economic Voting in American National Elections
Thursday, February 25 Multiple regression (video recording) (note: the video recording only covers the first half of class; something went wrong with the recording for the second half) (slides) (the slides are complete for both the first and second halves of class)
recommended preparation:
Hannah Lukinovich et al., Trade-Induced Job Loss and Support for Free Trade
Friday, February 26 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, February 26 Section AB (video recording)
Monday, March 1 Section assignment #3, due at 8:00 PM
Tuesday, March 2 Experiments, part 1 (video recording) (slides)
Thursday, March 4 Experiments, part 2 (video recording) (slides)
recommended preparation:
Brandon Fultz, ANOVA, A Visual Introduction
Friday, March 5 Section AA (video recording)
Friday, March 5 Section AB (video recording)
Monday, March 8 Article review assignment, due at 8:00 PM
Tuesday, March 9 Natural experiments, the comparative method, and case studies (video recording, which covers only the first part of class) (slides)
Thursday, March 11 What can go wrong in published research (video recording) (slides)
Friday, March 12 Section AA (video recording) (slides)
Friday, March 12 Section AB (video recording) (slides)
Thursday, March 18 at 4:30 PM Final exam (not cumulative)