Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Political Science Research Methods POLS 2399 (Spring 2024)

This class is for students who wish to learn how to conduct and evaluate social science research. Students who plan to write a senior thesis or capstone paper, to help a professor conduct original research, to consider graduate school, or to consider what constitutes “evidence” in law school, to work in a consulting firm, research is one of the most important skills you need to learn. The goal of the class, as elaborated in the learning goals below, will be to assess scholarly literature in political science, to identify interesting research questions, to formulate strategies for answering them, to utilize the methodological tools that will best help you conduct the research, and to present the results of your research in presentations, papers, and policy briefings.

Most other political science courses, both undergraduate and graduate, address these questions indirectly, we provide a variety of strategies of empirical political inquiry. We provide examples of social science research in many subfields – including American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and others that rely on empirical evidence. We take empirical evidence to be historical, quantitative, qualitative, and anthropological. Specific methodologies include survey research, experiments, non-experiments, intensive interviews, comparative method, statistical analysis, case studies, and participant observation.

LEARNING GOALS • Synthesize, analyze, and critically evaluate major arguments in the study of political science and in contemporary debates involving politics and government • Demonstrate an understanding of research methods used in the study of political science • Assess the value and use of original and secondary sources of argumentation and evidence • Apply and integrate personal experience in government, politics, or related activities with the study of political science • Communicate effectively in written and oral formats relevant to the field of political science • Design an independent research project in the domain of government and politics

By the end of the course, students will be able to:


 * 1) Identify theories, hypotheses, and methods used in empirical political science research.
 * 2) Apply different methods to political science research questions.
 * 3) Analyze data to measure concepts, make comparisons, and draw inferences.
 * 4) Define causation and the multiple ways of reaching causal inferences.
 * 5) Communicate political science concepts, theories, and methods verbally and in writing.