POLS 390 Political Inquiry and Analysis, 9:00-10:15 AM, Kuy 307, Tuesday, Thursday

Prof. Richard Chadwick

Chadwick@hawaii.edu

Office phone: 956-7180 (call anytime to leave message)

Office and hours: Saunders 619, Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30-noon, 2-4 p.m. and by appt.

Catalog description: "Introductory survey and analysis of methods used in empirical research, policy analysis, and social criticism. DS"

This course is required of all political science majors. Two sections are taught this spring so please consult both syllabi to select the one that better suits your interests.

The pre-requisite for this course is that you have taken one 100-200 level political science course.

Textbooks:

  1. Janet B. Johnson and H.T. Reynolds, Political Science Research Methods, 5th ed.
  2. Robert A. Dahl and Bruce Stinebrickner, Modern Political Analysis, 6th ed.

    3. Other readings will be assigned and will usually be available on the web. You may want to preview the International Futures simulation (IFs) database and model at www.ifs.du.edu.

    Students will be expected to use a spreadsheet program on which they will perform their own calculations for those components of the course that require statistical calculation. Since this work will be done in small groups, you will be expected to divide up the work within the team and rotate the functions of library or web scanning, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing final reports, so each student experiences each aspect research.

    On Thursdays there will be either a short quiz to prepare you for one of the exams, or an exam. The exams will cover the readings and lecture material.

    You will be expected to turn in four short research reports (about 3-4 pages) based on class work in groups and/or outside research. The fourth will be in the form of a take-home essay for the final exam.

    Grading will be 30% on the quizzes, 30% on the exams and 40% on the research reports.

    Course schedule (tentative; expect some shifting/adding of assignments between now and when class starts; adjustments will also be made during the semester as needed).

    Week

    Readings (basic – more will be added as the semester goes on)

    Chapter content brief description

    1. Jan. 9,11

    J&R Chs. 1,2; D&S Ch. 11

    Lecture notes online:Political studies: Paradigms sketches
    Student Contributions: What is "politics?"

    Introduction to the philosophy of political science and evaluation

    2. Jan. 16,18

    J&R Ch. 3

    D&S Ch. 12

    Basics of research design

    What good is modern political analysis?

    Normative approaches and practical policy

  3. Jan. 23
  4. Jan. 25 Course assessment

    5. J&R Chs. 4,5

    Coming up with a research subject: hypotheses and literature review.

    Jan. 31

    Feb. 1 Exam 1

    		 Review of J&R and D&S readings and lecture notes Link to lecture notes

    4. Feb. 6,8

    D&S Chs. 1,2,3
    Lecture notes and info. for report 1

    Nature of politics (source of hypotheses, criticism)

    5. Feb. 13,15

    		J&R Ch. 6,7
    Report 1 assignment details     		Measurement, observation

    6. Feb. 22
    Report 1

    D&S Chs. 4,5

    Political systems and influence (more hypotheses, evaluation and criticism)
    Spreadsheet for Coplin's "constituency" model

    7. Feb. 27, Mar. 1

    Guest: Kuhio Vogeler

    Tues: D&S Chs. 6,7

    Thurs: J&R Ch. 8: Guest speaker: Kuhio Vogeler, "Document Analysis"

    Political systems similarities and differences

    Document analysis

    8. Mar. 6,8

    J&R Ch. 9, 10

    Sampling, elite interviewing, validity and inference

    9. Mar. 13


    Mar. 15 Exam 2

    Review of last week's readings, followed by a quiz.

    Review for Exam 2, followed by the exam.  

    		 Exam covers material presented since Exam 1 (weeks 4-9).
    10. Mar. 20,22 J&R Ch. 11
    S Chs. 8,9          		Univariate analysis and statistics
    Types and functions of governments (more hypotheses, evaluation) 

    Spring Break

    		    

    11. Apr. 3,5

    		 J&R Ch. 12   Measuring relationships and testing hypotheses: bivariate data analysis

    12. Apr. 10, 12

     

    J&R Ch. 13

    Quiz 9 review (on bivariate analysis)

    Multivariate analysis and the search for complete explanations and causal knowledge
    My lecture note on "Some Theoretical Implications for 2x2 Tables.doc".  
    There is a more general statement on causality at http://web.uccs.edu/lbecker/Psy590/cause.htm.  
    There is a simple online calculator for various statistics related to contingency tables at http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats/contingency.html.

    13. Apr. 17,19
    Quiz 9 (Tues.)
    Exam 3 (Thurs)
    Revised Report

    		 Ch. 13 (continued) Preparation for Exam 3: review of key concepts in bivariate and multivariate analysis, esp. hypothesis construction, statistical decision making and potential for errors of inference such as spurious correlation.  
    14. Apr. 24,26
    Quiz 10    		 J&R Ch 14, pp. 452-453
    Impromptu Lecture notes for 4-24-26-'07     		"Research reporting" - Compare the nature of the questions in political science research with political philosophy and applied policy questions.  

    15. May 1

    Take-home essay exam, course eval.

    Link here May 1st to take-home exam due May 8th 11:45 A.M.