POL 2700:
METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS
Fall 2006

MWF 11:00-12:05, Hum 403

This week | Grades | General

Professor Stephen Chilton

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COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

You are apprenticing yourself to learn the rudiments of the political science profession: the conceptual underpinnings of our field, how we gather data, and how we analyze it.  This course presents the basic methods for data-gathering and analysis that most political scientists use in their research.

Even if you do not become a professional political scientist, your career will involve these methods and ways of thinking - survey research, sampling, defining & defending & measuring concepts, analyzing data, and defending your conclusions.  These methods are used not just by political scientists but also by a wide variety of other professionals:  lawyers, stockbrokers, criminologists, policy analysts, business owners, economists, psychologists, market researchers, historians, anthropologists, and so on.  Also, as a citizen you will be dealing with arguments based on social-scientific methods and analyses.  So if for no other reason than self-defense, you need to understand the logic, limits, and pitfalls of social-scientific methods and ways of thinking.

Beyond self-defense, however, methodology is fascinating for itself, because it deals with the rich and exciting confrontation of theory with reality.  On the one hand, political science research methods are founded on a number of clear, logical theories:  mathematical theories of sampling and statistical analysis, and psychological theories of cognitive structure. On the other hand, these clear theories must be tested within and applied to problems in the real world, where we can rarely satisfy the theories' assumptions.  The good researcher therefore needs to understand both how the world works and how the shortcuts s/he uses might affect the results.  There is an old saying, "Art lies in the resistance of the medium."  The art of methodology consists in finding creative ways to reconcile our pure logic and our imperfect reality.

You should leave the course with the following:

REQUIRED TEXTS

The texts for the course are as listed below.  Both are required.  Not listed are those of our readings that can be found online.

GRADING

ASSIGNMENT DUE
WEIGHT
Exam #1 10/6
18
Exam #2 11/8
21
Final exam
 12/21
25
Workbook
exercises*		 various
36
Extra credit [N/A]
Added credit
Course-specific
extra credit		 [N/A]
Added credit

[* I drop your lowest four scores.]

COURSE SCHEDULE

WK DAY CLASS CONTENT AND PREPARATION
1

9/6

Topic:  General usefulness of methodology.  Methodology as an art.  Social sciences are harder than physical sciences.  Methodology as an opportunity for clear thought.  Syllabus.  Roll call.

Read:
9/8

Read:  Babbie, Ch.1 Human Inquiry and Science

  • "Introduction"
  • "Looking for Reality"

Topic:  Political science, sociology, or psychology?

2
 9/11

Read:  Babbie, Ch.1 Human Inquiry and Science

  • "The Foundations of Social Science"

Topic:  Normative vs. empirical?
9/13

Read:  Babbie, Ch.1 Human Inquiry and Science

  • "Some Dialectics of Social Research"
9/15

Read:  Babbie, Ch.2 Paradigms, Theory, and Social Research

  • "Introduction"
  • "Some Social Science Paradigms"

Exercise(s):  W&B 1.1* or Babbie 1-1**   Use examples that illustrate the "errors of human inquiry" as clearly as possible.

[* "W&B 1.1 means the exercise listed as 1.1 in the Wagenaar & Babbie workbook.]

[** "Babbie 1-1" means the first of the "Review Questions and Exercises" for Chapter 1, which appear on p.28.]
3

9/18

Read:  Babbie, Ch.2 Paradigms, Theory, and Social Research

  • "Elements of Social Theory":  paradigms, theories, laws, hypotheses, evidence
  • "Two Logical Systems Revisited"

Exercise(s):  W&B 1.3
9/20

Read:  Babbie, Ch.3 The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

  • "Introduction"
  • "Ethical Issues in Social Research"
  • "Two Ethical Controversies"
  • "The Politics of Social Research"

Exercise:  W&B 2.1  [Answer both sections.]  Also:  We will do Babbie 3-1 in class discussion.  Read it and think about your answers.
9/22

Read:  Babbie, Ch.4 Research Design
4
 9/25

Read:  Babbie, Ch.4 Research Design

  • "Units of Analysis"
  • [Re-read:] "A Variable Language" (from Babbie, Ch.1)

Topic:  The intimate interconnections of units, variables, and attributes

9/27

CLASS CANCELLED

Read:  Babbie, Ch.4 Research Design

  • "The Time Dimension"
  • "How to Design a Research Project"

Exercise(s):  W&B 4.1
9/29

Read:  Babbie, Ch.4 Research Design

  • "The Time Dimension"
  • "How to Design a Research Project"

Exercise(s):  W&B 4.1
5

10/2

Read:  Babbie, Ch.5 Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement

  • "Introduction"
  • "Measuring Anything That Exists"
  • "Conceptualization"

Exercise(s):  W&B 4.2

Study guide for exam 1 posted sometime today
10/4

Read:  Babbie, Ch.5 Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement

  • "Definitions in Descriptive and Explanatory Studies"
  • "Operationalization Choices"
  • "Criteria of Measurement Quality"
10/6

Exam 1  [Study guide for exam 1]
6

10/9

Read:  Babbie, Ch.6 Indexes, Scales, and Typologies

  • "Introduction"
  • "Indexes versus Scales"
  • "Index Construction"

Exercise(s):  W&B 5.1 and 5.5.   For 5.1, pick your concept from the following list (i.e., not W&B's list):  "political liberalism", "likelihood of voting ", "regime democraticness", and "'realism' as this country's foreign policy ".  (Note that these terms come from the four major subfields of political science — political theory, American government, comparative politics, and international relations.  Pick the one from the field that most interests you.)
10/11

Read:  Babbie, Ch.6 Indexes, Scales, and Typologies
10/13

Read:  Babbie, Ch.7 The Logic of Sampling

  • "Introduction"
  • "A Brief History of Sampling"
  • "Nonprobability Sampling"
  • List of recent NYT polls  [Each poll will include a link to a page called, "How the Poll Was Conducted" and to another page (a pdf file) called, "Complete Results".  These are excellent examples of how a survey should be reported.]

Exercise(s):  W&B 6.1*

[* In answering W&B 6.1, use "Quality of bars in the Duluth/Superior area" as your topic.]

7

10/16

Read:  Babbie, Ch.7 The Logic of Sampling

  • "The Theory and Logic of Probability Sampling"
  • "Populations and Sampling Frames"

Exercise(s):  W&B 6.2 and Babbie 6-2 & 6-3
10/18

Read:  Babbie, Ch.7 The Logic of Sampling

  • "Types of Sampling Designs"

Exercise(s):  W&B 7.1
10/20

Read:  Babbie, Ch.7 The Logic of Sampling

  • "Multistage Cluster Sampling"

Topic:  We will discuss Babbie 7-4 today, so read it over and think about it before class.

Exercise(s):  W&B 7.2
8

10/23

Read:  Babbie, Ch.8 Experiments

  • "Introduction"
  • "Topics Appropriate to Experiments"
  • "The Classical Experiment"

Exercise(s):  W&B 7.3.  Also prepare to hand in W&B 8.2 on Friday.
10/25

Read:  Babbie, Ch.8 Experiments

  • "Selecting Subjects"

Exercise(s):  W&B 8.1.  Also prepare to hand in W&B 8.2 on Friday.
10/27

Read:  Babbie, Ch.8 Experiments

  • "Variations on Experimental Design"

Exercise(s):  W&B 8.2
9

10/30

Read:  Babbie, Ch.8 Experiments

  • "An Illustration of Experimentation"
  • "Alternative Experimental Settings "
  • "Strengths and Weaknesses of the Experimental Method"
11/1

Read:  Babbie, Ch.9 Survey Research [Questions]

Exercise(s):  Babbie 8-1 or 8-5.  Also:  Babbie 8-2 or 8-3.

11/3

Read:  Babbie, Ch.9 Survey Research [Questionnaires]

10

11/6

Read:  Babbie, Ch.9 Survey Research [Approaching the respondent]

Topic:  Discuss W&B 9.2 & 9.3

Exercise(s):  W&B 9.2 and 9.3.  (Save your W&B 9.3 forms when I return them;  we will use them later.)  Also:  Start to replicate Babbie's field research (discussed in Babbie pp.287B-289).

11/8

Exam 2  [Study guide for exam 2]
11/10

Read:  Babbie, Ch.10 Qualitative Field Research

  • "Introduction"
  • "Topics Appropriate to Field Research"
  • "Special Considerations in Qualitative Field Research"
  • "Some Qualitative Field Research"

Exercise(s):  Babbie 9-4
11
 11/13

Read:  Babbie, Ch.10 Qualitative Field Research

  • "Conducting Qualitative Field Research"
  • "Research Ethics in Qualitative Field Research"
  • "Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Field Research"

Exercise(s):  Written (+ in-class) report on replication of Babbie's field research (pp.287B-288)   [1 page max]
11/15

Read:  Babbie, Ch.11 Unobtrusive Research

  • "Introduction"
  • "Content Analysis"
11/17

Read:  Babbie, Ch.11 Unobtrusive Research

  • "Analyzing Existing Statistics"
  • "Comparative and Historical Research"

Exercise(s):  W&B 11.1 or Babbie 11-2

12
 11/20

Read:  Babbie, Ch.12 Evaluation Research

  • "Introduction"
  • "Topics Appropriate to Evaluation Research"
  • "Formulating the Problem:  Issues of Measurement"
11/22

Overflow / study day

11/24

Thanksgiving Break -- no class

13
 11/27

Read:  Babbie, Ch.12 Evaluation Research

  • "Types of Evaluation Research Designs"
  • "The Social Context"
  • "Social Indicators Research"

Exercise(s):  W&B 12.1 or W&B 12.2 or Babbie 12-1

11/29

Read:  Babbie, Ch.14 Quantitative Data Analysis*

  • "Introduction"
  • "Quantification of Data"

Exercise(s):  Babbie 12-4 — but change "society" to "political system", "social indicators" to "indicators", and "quality of life in your society" to "our political culture".  Also, be sure your indicators are realistic, i.e., that they could be (or, better, are) actually measured.

[* Note that we are skipping Ch. 13.]

12/1

Read:  Babbie, Ch.14 Quantitative Data Analysis

  • "Univariate Analysis"
14
 12/4

Read:  Babbie, Ch.14 Quantitative Data Analysis

Exercise(s):  W&B 14.1 and 14.2
12/6

Read:  Babbie, Ch.14 Quantitative Data Analysis [Topics of 12/1 & 12/4 continued]
12/8

Read:  Babbie, Ch.14 Quantitative Data Analysis

  • "Introduction to Multivariate Analysis"

Exercise(s):  W&B 14.3
15
 12/11

Read:  Babbie, Ch.16 Statistical Analyses

  • "Introduction"
  • "Descriptive Statistics"
  • "Inferential Statistics"

Exercise(s):  W&B 14.1, W&B 14.3

12/13

Read:  Babbie, Ch.16 Statistical Analyses

  • "Other Multivariate Techniques"
12/15

Read:  Babbie, Ch.16 Statistical Analyses [continued]

Exercise(s):  Babbie 14-4, W&B 16.1, and W&B 16.2
 

Thursday, 12/21, 8:00-9:50:  Final exam.  [Study guide for final exam]
Friday, 12/29:  All grades and an annotated version of the final exam are posted on the web by midnight tonight.

LINKS TO COURSE POLICIES

I am committed to being your firm ally in your education.   I'm interested in you, not just your talents as a political analyst.  Lots of things happen to students outside of school that nevertheless affect their ability to learn and perform.  Every student, without exception, has always done the best s/he could, if all the circumstances are taken into account.  This includes you.  Therefore, if you have trouble figuring out what to study, or if you study hard and get a bad grade on an exam or assignment anyway, or things simply aren't going well in your life, come and talk to me.  Please don't just suffer in silence!

URL:   http://www.d.umn.edu/~schilton/2700/2700.Syl.2006.Fall.current.html
Author:  Stephen Chilton [email]  Last Modified:  2006-12-11
Honor Roll  |  UMD  |  Pol Sci Department

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