Description and Goals

Why do we call our discipline “political science“? What kinds of research do political scientists do, and how do they communicate that knowledge to one another? How do we know what we think we know? How do we measure political phenomena? How would we know if a new public policy “worked”? Are polls still able to predict election outcomes with the samples they can get? How do we analyze data, and what are good data to analyze? Are ethics as hard to define for political scientists as they are for political campaigners?

During the course of the semester, we will discuss these issues and others. Our discussions, the readings, various written assignments, and the final research paper will facilitate your becoming intelligent consumers of political science research, as well as help you become producers of your own research. The skills that you develop in the course will help you understand the literature that you read in substantive seminars, help you evaluate that research, enable you to better understand the assumptions behind each research design, help you find published research and data archives on topics that interest you, and familiarize you with some of the techniques used in individual and aggregate level analysis.

My only assumption is that participants in the seminar are intelligent, motivated students in a Ph.D. program. Many good undergraduate lecture courses and graduate seminars require you to become knowledgeable about a field, such as Comparative Politics, Political Behavior, Public Policy, or International Relations. In this course, we are not focused on a particular field, but are more interested in understanding the methods that political scientists in all fields use to understand and build knowledge. Of course, new things can be both exciting and frightening. Any trepidation that you may have is best overcome by “feeling the fear, and doing it anyway.” The excitement will come with the realization that this knowledge is empowering, in that it will enable you to find, read, and understand research on your own. You will also begin to produce this kind of research, which will give you a product of your own labors.

Assignments

Attend and participate in seminar (15%). Every person should come to seminar prepared to comment on the assigned readings, and help others to understand the concepts presented in the readings and assignments. Research is not a spectator sport, so you should expect me to ask for your contributions on a regular basis. Some time in seminar will be devoted to lecture, but your participation in this course is expected to be that of an “active learner”. Any absence from seminar requires a prompt explanation. Multiple absences seriously jeopardize the prospect for successful completion of the course.  Participation is evaluated with respect to listening, preparation, quality of contributions, impact on the class, and frequency.

	Strong	Needs Development	Unsatisfactory
Listening	Actively and respectfully listens to peers and instructor	Respectful but not engaged by comments of others	Projects lack of interest or disrespect for others (including browsing other materials during class)
Preparation	Arrives fully prepared with all assignments completed, and notes on reading, observations, and questions	Sometimes arrives unprepared or with only superficial preparation	Little evidence of having completed or thought about assigned material
Quality of contributions	Comments are relevant and reflect understanding of assignments, previous remarks of other students, and insights about assigned material	Comments occasionally show lack of preparation or understanding	Comments reflect little understanding of either the assignment or previous remarks in class
Impact on class	Comments frequently help move class discussion forward	Comments keep the conversation on track, but do little to move it forward	Comments do not advance the conversation or are actively harmful to it
Frequency of  participation	Actively participates at appropriate times	Participates when called upon, but no more	Seldom participates and is generally disengaged or absent

Grading scale for participation component:

• A – Strong in most categories
• A- – Participation is strong in some categories but needs development in others
• B – Need for development in most categories
• C – Typically unsatisfactory in several categories
• E – Unsatisfactory in nearly all.
• Followup assignments (35% cumulative).  Unless otherwise noted, followup assignments will be one page essays due on Canvas Sunday evening before class, and will build on the concepts introduced in the previous class. When assigned, the followup assignments will be discussed as “show and tell” in the first part of the next class meeting.
• Present and Write a Research Proposal (50%). Each participant will be required to submit a research proposal.  Papers will be judged on readability, the appropriateness of the research question, and the suitability of the design for that question.  The initial statement of intent  will be discussed in class.   Presentations of research proposals will be in class and worth 10% of the final grade, and final research papers are 40% of the final grade.  Guidelines are posted here.