POLS 359: Research Design

Professor Nancy Arrington

How do we – as scholars – learn new things? And, how do we know if what we’ve learned is trust- worthy or good? 

This 10-week, crash-course in Research Design will introduce students to the theory and method of contemporary, empirical political analysis. Together, the class will work through the stages of a research project – asking a good question, developing clear concepts, generating a causal theory, formulating hypotheses, and then designing an empirical strategy to best test specific hypotheses. At each stage, the concepts addressed will apply to students’ own projects. These projects will culminate in original, unique research design paper (approximately 15-20 pages in length) due at the end of term.