- Winter 2024
Syllabus Description:
link to Professor Smith's office hours, Mondays 1:30-2:30 and Tuesdays 3:00-4:00 by Zoom here
Dennis Young's Wednesday office hours, 11:00-1:00, are both in-person in Gowen 28 and by Zoom here
You can find the full syllabus here
You can find Smith's grading scale conversation here
Midterm study guide here
Schedule of Topics and Assignments:
Wednesday, January 3 Introduction to the course (slides)
Friday, January 5 Thinking about social science research
Monday, January 8 The science in political science (lecture recording) (slides)
Note: no in-person class today. The lecture will be prerecorded and posted here.
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 2
Wednesday, January 10 Theories, models, and causation (slides)
Wednesday, January 10, 8:00 PM. Acknowledgment of course policies due
Read: Marshal IjazLinks to an external site., How to Identify a Research Question
Read: Stefan GötzeLinks to an external site., A Brief Guide for Developing a Research Question
Thursday, January 11, 8:00 PM. Section assignment #1 due
Friday, January 12 Finding researchable questions
Monday, January 15 No class (MLK Day)
Wednesday, January 17 The challenges of demonstrating causation (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 6
Thursday, January 18, 8:00 PM. Section assignment #2 due
Friday, January 19 Research design
Monday, January 22 Conceptualization and measurement (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 4
Wednesday, January 24 Sampling (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 5
Thursday, January 25, 8:00 PM. Section assignment #3 due
Friday, January 26 Conceptualizing and measuring variables
Monday, January 29 Sampling; surveys and survey research (slides)
Watch: Armin TrostLinks to an external site., Survey Design Part 1
Wednesday, January 31 Surveys and survey research (slides)
Read: Pew Research CenterLinks to an external site., Writing Survey Questions
Watch: Seth Stephens-DavidowitzLinks to an external site., What Google Searches Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
Friday, February 2 Designing surveys; review
Monday, February 5 Midterm exam
Wednesday, February 7 Descriptive and inferential statistics (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 11
Thursday, February 8, 8:00 PM. Section assignment #4 due
Friday, February 9 Descriptive and inferential statistics
Monday, February 12 Descriptive and inferential statistics (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 12
Wednesday, February 14 Hypothesis testing and inferential statistics (slides)
Watch: Hypothesis Testing ProblemsLinks to an external site.
Thursday, February 15, 8:00 PM Article review assignment due
Friday, February 16 Inferential statistics
Monday, February 19 No class (Presidents’ Day)
Wednesday, February 21 Correlation and bivariate regression (slides)
Read: Johnson, Reynolds, and Mycoff, chapter 14
Thursday, February 22, 8:00 PM. Section assignment #5 due
Friday, February 23 Calculating correlations and bivariate regressions
Monday, February 26 Bivariate regression and multiple regression (slides)
Wednesday, February 28 Multiple regression (slides)
Friday, March 1 Estimating multiple regressions
Monday, March 4 Experiments (slides)
Read: Saloni Dattani, Why Randomized Controlled Trials Matter and the Procedures that Strengthen Them
Tuesday, March 5, 8:00 PM Data analysis assignment due
Wednesday, March 6 Natural experiments, the comparative method, and case studies (slides)
Friday, March 8 Political science research; review
Friday, March 15 from 2:30-4:20 Final exam