17.801 | Fall 2017 | Undergraduate

Political Science Scope and Methods

Course Description

This course is designed to provide an introduction to a variety of empirical research methods used by political scientists. The primary aims of the course are to make you a more sophisticated consumer of diverse empirical research and to allow you to conduct advanced independent work in your junior and senior years. …
This course is designed to provide an introduction to a variety of empirical research methods used by political scientists. The primary aims of the course are to make you a more sophisticated consumer of diverse empirical research and to allow you to conduct advanced independent work in your junior and senior years. This is not a course in data analysis. Rather, it is a course on how to approach political science research.

Course Info

Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments
Projects
Lecture Notes
The grainy image on a television screen shows John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon standing at podiums.
1960 Presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon during one of their televised debates. While most radio listeners considered Nixon the victor, most television watchers rated Kennedy higher. The effects of candidate appearance on elections is one of the topics discussed in this course. (Image courtesy of James Vaughan on flickr. License CC BY-NC-SA.)