1 RESEARCH METHODS AND DESIGNS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE POLS 3310 (.001)/5310 6-8pm, 010 UH http://www.uta.edu/faculty/story/ The official syllabus is found only on Professor Story’s web site Dale Story 449 University Hall, [email protected] Summer 2011 Office Hours (by appt.): 5:30-6pm, MW Course Description and Overview This course is designed to introduce the Political Science student to behavioral methodology, social statistics, and computer applications in the social sciences. The first part of the course will focus on issues of philosophy of science, explanations and theories, research designs, measurement, and survey research. The second part of the course will cover basic statistical analysis (univariate, bivariate, and multivariate) and computer software (SPSS) for computing statistics. Political research focuses on explaining and predicting political phenomenon. What influences the votes of a congressional representative? Why are some nations democratic and other nations authoritarian? The answers to these and other questions are sought through political research. Thus, the objective of this course is to teach students how to design and carry out research in political science. Substantive issues are discussed only as examples of different methods of conducting research. The emphasis in this course is on the methods and techniques used in analyzing political events. This course than exposes the student to the basic steps of political research: defining the problem or the question, formulating hypotheses, specifying a research design, operationalizing the measures, analyzing the data, and reaching conclusions. An interest in quantitative analysis is helpful, but no previous knowledge of research methods, statistics, or statistical software is required. The basic statistics and computer software will be fully explained in class and in the readings. Student Learning Outcomes - The students will be able to explain and discuss basic issues of philosophy of science; - The students will be able to explain and discuss basic issues related to explanations, concepts, relationships, hypotheses, and theories; - The students will be able to create and critique research designs; - The students will be able to demonstrate and apply levels of measurement and types of measurement error; - The students will be able to explain methods of conducting survey research and analyze sampling theory; - The students will be able to create and analyze different data sets, utilizing univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics. - The students will be able to explain and employ statistical and methodological techniques to analyze information. Course Requirements and Grading All readings from the F-N&N book and the S book are highly recommended. The amount of reading for this course is not particularly heavy. However, the reading assignments in this course could be2 critically important. Students are encouraged to read the appropriate chapters before the topics are introduced in class. Thus, the student will be better prepared to digest class lectures and ask questions for clarifying difficult points. Your instructor recognizes that the topics could be new to you. The expectation is that each student will make a sincere effort to assimilate the material and will not be reticent in asking questions of the instructor. In fact, much of the learning in this class will occur through discussion format (question and answer) and through individual help. All students are expected to attend class regularly and to seek the instructor’s assistance whenever they have questions. The textbooks available for purchase in local bookstores are: 1. Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias (F-N&N), Research Methods in the Social Sciences (7th Ed.). Recommended 2. Shively (S), The Craft of Political Research (8th Ed.). Recommended Grades are based on: three exams (each worth 30%--covering only material since the previous exam—Exam 3 is the “Final Exam”) and a statistical project (worth 10%); Graduate and Honors’ students will have one additional individual statistical project. Each exam will be worth 25%; the statistical project, 10%; and the additional statistical project, 15%. For the individual statistical project, students will need to pick their own topic, download their own data-set, develop their own hypotheses, and provide their own analysis. It should be of similar depth and breadth to the class statistical project. Grade Distribution This class has no “ideal” grade distribution. The grade distribution for this instructor and this class averages: 10% A, 45% B, 30% C, 5% D, and 10% F. The average final score is in the upper-70s. Essential Expections All students are expected to: (1) attend class at all times (unless the course has a non-attendance option); (2) arrive in class on-time (preferably early); (3) always remain respectful of class environment (no extended conversations, etc.); (4) never leave class before they are dismissed; (5) never leave class during an exam; (6) take extensive notes on class lectures and all assigned readings, videos, and the like; and (7) devote at least two hours studying outside of class for every hour of scheduled class time. General Policies All requirements, exam dates, and deadlines are 99.5% firm. Any deviations will be due to highly extenuating circumstances, such as cancelled class due to inclement weather. These deviations will be announced in class and provided to the students in written form. No extensions will be given. Exercises/papers/projects are due by the beginning of class on the due date. Work submitted at any time after the precise deadline will receive an automatic deduction of 50 points. No excuses will be accepted. You are encouraged to submit your work early. Think: “Early is on-time; and on-time is late.” Letter grades correspond to the following scales: 90+ = A; 80+ = B; 70+ = C; 50+ = D; and below 50 = F. Fractions are not rounded off, grades are not "curved," and the numerical minimums for letter grades are absolute and fixed. All students are treated equally, and grades are based on performance and not on need. In answering essay questions in exercises or exams (describing, analyzing, discussing, explaining, identifying, etc.), always use complete sentences and paragraphs. Organize your answers. Be complete, but do not ramble. Diagrams, lists, graphs,