17.871 **REVISED SYLLABUS** Prof. Charles StewartPolitical Science Laboratory Department of Political ScienceMIT Office: E53-473T, R, 3-4:30* Phone: 253-3127E53-220 e-mail: [email protected] 2006 URL: http://www.mit.edu/~cstewart/URL:http://www.mit.edu/~17.871/*Some class sessions end at 5:00. See schedule below.NOTE: Because this subject is labor-intensive and has presentation requirements, therewill be enrollment limitations in this subject. See the body of the syllabus for the prioritysystem to be used if we have to resort to them. The prerequisite (17.869) is strictlyenforced.PurposeThe purpose of this class is to introduce undergraduate political scientists to the basic quantitative tools of politicalscience research. In particular, this class explores the key statistically-based research tools that social scientists useto frame and answer empirical questions. When you finish this subject you will have a better idea about what politicalscientists do with their time, be better able to read critically much of the professional literature in the field, and mayvery well have an employable skill. The most important purpose behind the political science laboratory, however, is tohelp you move from being a passive reader of social scientific tomes to being a creative producer of new insights.Producing new knowledge, or systematically probing someone else's claims, can be a lot of fun. In order to get to thefun, there is a lot of stuff we have to consider. Consequently, this subject runs on three (roughly) parallel tracks sothat we can accomplish everything we need to get done once the semester is over. Leaving on Track 1 is statistics. Statistical reasoning is the most important method of testing hypotheses in the socialsciences. Therefore the statistical introduction offered here forms the core of the subject. The approach I will take tostatistics is informal and intuitive. The approach could be more formal and less intuitive, but that would leave us withless time to get on to the new knowledge part. If this subject piques your interest in statistical methods, or if you wanta more rigorous treatment of the statistical topics addressed here, you might want to consider taking 17.846(Multivariate Political Analysis), 14.31 (Econometrics), or 6.430J (Engineering Probability and Statistics).Leaving on Track 2 are research mechanics. Serious scholarship requires hard work, organization, and attention todetail. Lots of people have lots of interesting ideas about how the social world works. Some of these ideas are right,others, nuts. In the long run the researchers who are taken the most seriously and who make the biggestcontributions are the ones who get down and dirty with the data. And doing good empirical research involves knowinghow libraries work, how to convince people to be interviewed by you, how to type numbers into a computer, how towrite code in monster statistical packages, and how to craft a clear English-language sentence. We will thereforespend a good amount of time with the mundane tasks of learning how to use one specific statistical package (called2STATA) and learning how to write papers that follow a specific style book (Turabian's Manual for Writers of TermPapers, Theses, and Dissertations).Leaving on Track C is a project of your own making. There is supposedly an old Chinese proverb that says, "I hearand I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand." It is this philosophy that drives the Institute's labrequirement, and it is the philosophy that drives this subject. You will be responsible for finding a question thatinterests you and applying the skills you're learning in this subject toward learning (and understanding) somethingnew. I think this is the most interesting part of this subject. This can be fun, but it's also much more difficult than itfirst appears. Because doing original research is so hard, I am firmly enforcing the prerequisite (17.869). The reasonis that you need to have a pretty good understanding about what political science is and what political scientists dobefore taking this class. Otherwise, I can guarantee that you will be totally at sea the last half of the semester.Subject organizationWe will meet twice each week. During the first half of the semester the primary purpose of these meetings will be toreview materials in two formats: lecture and discussion. The subject schedule that begins on page 4 delineates whatwill happen each class meeting. I expect you to be prepared for each classmeeting. Preparation will involve different things, depending on what we will be doing in that meeting. During some meetings I will be presenting material from one of the textbooks. For those, you will be expected to havedone the textbook reading before the class. I will be paying attention to who seems prepared and who is not. If youare unprepared for a particular class meeting, come to class any way, because I will grade down people who areregularly absent from class.During the second half of the semester we will meet twice each week to talk about your research projects. You will berequired to make two class presentations during this period. At the first presentation you will be responsible forintroducing the class to the problem you wish to address and how you plan to address it. At the second presentationyou will be responsible for presenting your findings. These will be brief presentations, probably no more than 10-15minutes apiece. Because you will be graded on these presentations, you should practice them beforehand. Whenyou present will be chosen by lottery.Subject requirements1. Class attendance and discussion of assigned readings. (20% of grade) See the comments in the first paragraphof the section on Subject Organization. Come to all the regularly-scheduled class meetings. We may hold ad hocreview and workshop sessions during the term, which are optional. Attending the oral presentations that yourcolleagues give about their research is not optional; your constructive participation in these sessions fromthe perspective of the audience will be a major aspect of this part of the grade.2. Data analysis exams. (20% of grade) There will be two short (30-minute), in-class exams, that cover material fromthe text book, along with a couple of take-home exercises that you will return graded. These are intended to make3sure you have been serious about mastering the most basic technical and