Dr Thomas Leeper

This course is available on the BSc in Government, BSc in Government and Economics, BSc in Government and History, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and International Relations and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

The course will introduce students to the fundamentals of research design in political science. The course will cover a range of topics, starting from the formulation of research topics and research questions, the development of theory and empirically testable hypotheses, the design of data collection activities, and basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. The course will address a variety of approaches to empirical political science research including experimental and quasi-experimental designs, large-n survey research, small-n case selection, and comparative/historical comparisons. As a result, topics covered in the course will be varied and span all areas of political science including political behaviour, institutions, comparative politics, international relations, and public administration.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 1 hour of lectures in the ST.

Lectures will run from week 1-10 in MT and LT. Classes will run from week 2-11 in MT and LT.

Students will be expected to produce 8 problem sets in the MT and LT.

Approximately every other week throughout the course, students will complete a short "problem set" that allows them to apply material from the course to concrete political science examples (e.g., identifying design elements of a published research paper; proposing strategies for answering a given research question, etc.).

Adcock, R. & Collier, D. 2001. “Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research.” American Political Science Review 95: 529-546.

Campbell, D. T. & Ross, H. L. 1968. “The Connecticut Crackdown on Speeding: Time-Series Data in Quasi-Experimental Analysis.” Law & Society Review 3: 33-54.

Gerber, A. S. & Green, D. P. 2008. “Field Experiments and Natural Experiments.” In Box-Steffensmeier, J. M.; Brady, H. E. & Collier, D. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, Oxford University Press.

Gerring, J. 2012. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework. Cambridge University Press.

Kellstedt, P. M. & Whitten, G. D. 2013. The Fundamentals of Political Science Research. Cambridge University Press.

King, G.; Keohane, R. O. & Verba, S. 1994. Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton University Press.

Mahoney, J. & Goertz, G. 2006. "A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research." Political Analysis 14: 227-249.

Exam (50%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (50%, 3000 words).