Student Course Guide
This Syllabus was designed by staff at American Military University
It meets the requirements for the following courses:
RC511 Research Methods in Public Administration
RC580 Research Methods in Peace and Conflict Resolution
Professor: William C. Overton, PhD
Scope:
Research Methods is a required course for all AMU National Security Studies, Public Administration, Political Science, and Peace and Conflict Resolution majors. Other AMU graduate students interested in learning social science research methods may also register for the course. This course teaches the student to design his/her own empirical research, and evaluate the research of others, in any of the sub-fields of Political Science. The course begins with a quick introduction to graduate school. It then introduces the student to the field of Political Science. It introduces the philosophy of social science and several theoretical approaches used in Political Science. The course then concentrates on teaching the details of social science research design, data collection, and data analysis. The course takes the student step-by-step through social science qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research design, data collection, and data analysis methods. During the course, students will complete a number of assignments that lead to the development of an empirical research paper in an area of their interest in their major of National Security Studies, Public Administration, Political Science, or Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Objectives:
The successful student will be prepared to complete the following learning objectives:
1. Categorize approaches to Political Science theory development.
2. Locate sources and prepare a literature review of existing knowledge on a research topic of their interest.
3. Formulate qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research designs.
4. Collect empirical data on a research topic using social science methods.
5. Formulate qualitative and comparative analyses.
6. Assess basic quantitative (statistical) analyses.
7. Prepare an empirical research paper on a research topic in your field of interest.
Textbooks:
There are five (5) required textbooks for the course. The textbooks, along with lesson handouts and Internet material, make up the course’s required and supplemental readings.
Booth, Wayne C., et al., The Craft of Research (2nd ed.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. ISBN 0226065685 (paperback).
Creswell John W., Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002. ISBN: 0761924426 (paperback).
Fry, Ron, How to Study (5th ed.), Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, 2000. ISBN 1564144569 (paperback).
Johnson, Janet Buttolph, Richard A. Joslyn, & H. T. Reynolds, Political Science Research Methods (4th ed.). Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001. ISBN: 1-56802-329-4 (paperback).
Pyrczak, Fred & Randall R. Bruce, Writing Empirical Research Reports (4th ed.), Los Angeles: Pryczak Publishing, 2003. ISBN 188458537X (paperback).
Ritchie, Jane & Jane Lewis, Qualitative Research Practice, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003. ISBN 0761971106 (paperback).
Grading:
There are a total of 100 points for this course broken out as follows:
Seven Homework assignments (HW)*140 points**
One Research Paper (RP)* 100 points
Seven weekly reading and progress reports 35 points
* Two-letter code used in assigning credit to weekly lessons and designing filenames.
** Each homework assignment is worth 20 points.
Evaluation Procedures:
Students are also encouraged to participate in voluntary course Chatroom sessions. Students may also contact the instructor by email (). I will normally answer emails within 48 hours. When online in the AMU course web site, I will not regularly contact students when they are also in the web site. However, when students see that I am in the AMU web site, please feel free to contact me at any time. If I am working in another course, it may take a minute or two for me to get back to you; please be patient.
There are seven required homework assignments. All required student contacts, completed homework, and the final research paper will be uploaded to the student’s folder on the AMU course web site or sent by e-mail. Student contacts should be initiated with the instructor and all homework assignments should be uploaded to student folders, no later than the last day of the week they are due. On weeks that homework assignments are not due, please check in and/or report your progress on readings and other work to you instructor. If you have been in the field or otherwise unable to complete work, please contact me asap upon your return to report so I can give you credit for the contact.
All assignments will be evaluated on a combination of: (1) meeting assignment requirements; (2) quality of the work; and (3) correct use of spelling, grammar, structure, and style. All students should review The Elements of Style and The Online English Grammar , which provide guidance on proper spelling, grammar, and structure. Additionally, students are encouraged to use spelling and grammar checkers available with most word processing programs. Students should also have a second person proofread their assignments before submission, if possible.
Although distance learning provides you with a flexible schedule to meet your professional, personal, and academic responsibilities, you are expected to follow the student course guide and submit assignments on schedule. If you know you are going to be late, please e-mail me in advance that you will be late and provide me with your planned completion date. Or, e-mail me as soon as possible after the due date with a planned completion date. I will be happy to work with you on late assignments but you must keep me informed of your situation and you will also receive credit.
To do well in this course requires the submission of quality work. Following are a few hints that will help the student in meeting course requirements and that will enrich your learning experience. Students should complete all the required reading assignments. While reading each assignment, it is recommended the student use highlighter markers or margin notations to identify key concepts and material. Make sure you understand the material in all tables and graphs presented in the readings. After a first (or even second) reading, the student should make notes on each reading assignment to include identified theses statements, key definitions, and the outline of key arguments and information. Your real learning of the course material takes place in this note-taking process. Students should keep up with the assignments as presented in this course guide. Students are encouraged to work progressively on the literature review and final research paper assignments—neither of these assignments can be put off until the last minute if they are to be completed in a quality manner. This course is designed to maximize student interaction with the course material in order to enrich your learning experience. .
Final letter grades are awarded as follows:
ScoreLetterQuality PointsComments
94-100 A4.0 Work is of superior quality
90-93 A-3.7
87-89 B+3.3
84-86 B3.0Work is above average
80-83 B-2.7
77-79 C+2.3
73-76 C2.0 Work is average
70-72 C-1.7 Work is below average
67-69 D+1.3
64-66 D1.0 Work is unsatisfactory
60-63 D-0.7
0-59 F0.0 Work is failing
I Incomplete
W Withdrawn
X Audit grade
The course’s literature review homework and final research paper assignments must be typed in double-spaced format. All other assignments may be single-spaced. For all assignments, set all margins at one (1) inch. Use MS Word 12 or similar font size. Use black lettering and white backgrounds. Use a standard font style (i.e., Times New Roman, Ariel, etc.). If graphics are included (tables, graphs, diagrams, etc.), place them either in the text just after where they are first cited (i.e., at the next paragraph break) or as an appendix. Use black and white formats for all graphics. Avoid large and colored graphics files that take considerable time to upload online. Use in-text citations, for example: (Huntington, 1968, pp. 55-63), for all assignments. A list of references for all in-text citations should be included at the end of assignments. Do not use footnotes. Endnotes may be used for substantive material that the student does not want to include in the text. Endnotes should be placed just prior to lists of references. List of references may use any style format (Chicago, MLA, Turabian, American Psychological Association [APA], etc.) provided it is used consistently. Examples of these styles can be found through Internet searches. The Internet material, however, only summarizes the style formats. It is recommended that students purchase one of the standard style manuals (Chicago or APA are best) for use in their graduate writing. APA Style Samples can be found at
Course Overview Table:
Week / Dates (2004) / Lesson Subject / Administrative Information1 / See assignment
schedule / Introduction to Graduate School / Course Begins; contact professor
By e-mail
2 / Introduction to Graduate Research and Writing / Progress report by e-mail
3 / Introduction to Social Science Research / Progress report
4 / Literature Reviews and Theoretical Frameworks / Progress report
5 / Research Types, Goals, Sources, and Building Blocks / Submit Research Questions Homework (HW1)
6 / Sampling Theory / Submit Sampling Homework (HW2)
7 / Progress Report
8 / Research Designs / Progress Report
9 / Literature Review / (HW3) Lit Review
10 / Research Design / Submit research proposal homework (HW4)
11 / Empirical Data Collection 1 / Progress report
12 / Empirical Data Collection 2 / Submit data collection plan homework (HW5)
13 / Introduction to Qualitative and
Comparative Analysis / Submit comparative analysis homework (HW6)
14 / Introduction to
Quantitative Analysis / Submit quantitative analysis homework (HW7)
15 / The Research Report / Submit research paper (RP)
Weekly Lesson Schedule:
Week 1 - Introduction to Graduate School.
Scope: This lesson will introduce the student to the expectations of graduate education.
Objectives:
1. To examine the process of studying for graduate courses.
2. To understand the comprehensive examination taken at the end of your graduate courses.
Required Readings:
Fry, Read Entire Book.
Lesson Handouts. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handouts with following filenames.
Welcome to Graduate School (LH100).
Supplemental Readings: None.
Turn-In: Post your name and a short biography on the course Newsgroup (Student Biographies). See the instructor’s biography in Appendix A as a sample of the detail desired in your posted biography. Contact instructor by e-mail when you have done this.
First Student Contact. Upload to your student folder student a letter consisting of any information you would like the instructor to know that you do not wish to post in your Newsgroup biography.
Notes: Welcome to the course. In anticipation of your literature review assignment (see Week 7), make arrangements to take your local library’s classes on Internet and library research, if available. Learn Venn diagrams and Boolean logic used in electronic searches (Information on Venn diagrams and Boolean logic is available at most library web sites. See as a particularly good explanation of Venn diagram and Boolean logic use in electronic searches.) Learn how to conduct searches of the Internet, library holdings (local, research libraries, Library of Congress, etc.), and online or local CD-ROM network databases (i.e., First Search, PAIS International, Colombia International Affairs Online, Global Newsbank, Lexis-Nexis, JSTORS, ABC PoliSci, etc.). Become familiar with the AMU Online Research Center, including the procedures for interlibrary loan requests. You may find all of this is not possible because of your location, but avail yourself of as much as possible.
Week 2 - Introduction to Graduate Research and Writing.
Scope: This lesson will introduce the student to the issues involved in graduate research and writing.
Objectives:
1. To examine the process of graduate research.
2. To introduce the different types of graduate writing.
Required Readings:
Booth, Colomb, and Williams (hereafter BCW), Read Parts I-III, pp; 3-181; Review Parts VI-V, pp.185-324.
Fry, Reread Chapter 7.
Pyrczak and Bruce (hereafter PB), Review Entire Book.
JJR, Review Chapter 14.
RL, Review Chapter 11.
Lesson Handouts. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handout with following filename.
Graduate Research and Writing (LH103).
Supplemental Readings:
Strunk, William, Jr., The Elements of Style. Available in bookstore reference sections or online at (Recommend read the entire book if you do not regularly use it as a reference.)
The Online English Grammar. Available at
Turn-In: Read the Newsgroups (if any; you may be the only student in the section) of other students and post your replies to their answers.
Note: Begin course Chatrooms at your convenience.
Week 3 - Introduction to Social Science Research.
Scope: This lesson will survey social science research and introduce the student to the philosophy of social science.
Objectives:
1. To critique the process of social science research.
2. To synthesize major works on the philosophy of social science.
3. To distinguish between the “etic” and “emic” approaches to empirical research.
Required Readings:
Johnson, Joslyn & Reynolds (hereafter JJR), Chapters 1, 2.
Ritchie and Lewis (hereafter RL), Chapter 1.
Lesson Handouts. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handouts with following filenames.
Introduction to Political Science Research (LH1).
Introduction to Social Science (LH2).
Supplemental Readings: None.
Turn-In: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Week 4 – Political Science Theoretical Frameworks.
Scope: This lesson will survey several approaches to social science theory development and introduce procedures for conducting literature reviews.
Objectives:
1. To assess historical and behavioralist approaches to social theory.
2. To identify the differences between agency and structural approaches to social theory.
3. To judge the levels of analysis framework used in social science research.
4. To compare and contrast the realist, idealist (liberal), Marxist, and postmodern approaches to social science theory.
5. To devise research questions.
6. To examine existing research based upon on-line, archival, library, and other sources.
7. To differentiate between primary and secondary sources of information.
8. To critique existing research and use it to develop a literature review.
Required Readings:
Creswell, Chapters 2 and 7.
JJR, Chapter 6.
RL, Chapter 2.
PB, Chapters 5-6, App. A & B.
Lesson Handouts. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handout with following filename.
Introduction to Political Science Theory (LH3).
Designing and Refining a Research Question (LH4).
Critiquing the Literature (LH5).
Sample Literature Reviews (LH5A).
Supplemental Readings:
Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War by R. J. Rummel at (review web site, especially sections on Democratic Peace-“What is the Democratic Peace,” Conflict and Violence, and Methods).
Turn-In: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Week 5 – Research Types, Goals, Sources, and Building Blocks.
Scope: This lesson will introduce different types of research and the different goals associated with certain types. This lesson also highlights the important role of causal diagrams, hypotheses, concepts, operationalized variables, and measurement in research.
Objectives:
1. To diagram the research cycle and differentiate between deductive and inductive research.
2. To assess the differences among qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research.
3. To develop causal diagrams.
4. To formulate hypotheses from theoretical propositions.
5. To develop theoretical concepts into operationalized variables.
6. To assess the different levels and importance of variable measurement.
7. To distinguish the concepts of reliability and validity as used in research.
Required Readings:
JJR, Chapters 3, 4.
Creswell, Chapter 6.
PB, Chapters 1-3.
Supplemental Readings: None
Turn-Ins: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Submit research questions homework (HW1). Upload this homework to your student folder using filename
yourlast nameHW1.doc).
Week 6 - Sampling Theory.
Scope: To learn the different methods of representative and non-representative sampling.
Objectives:
1. To assess simple-random, systematic, and stratified methods of representative sampling.
2. To categorize non-representative sampling techniques.
3. To explain the importance of proper sampling to research inference.
Required Readings:
JJR, Chapter 7.
RL, Chapter 4.
Lesson Handout. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handout with following filename.
Sampling Theory Overview (LH6).
Supplemental Readings: None.
Turn-In: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Submit sampling homework (HW2). Upload this homework to your student folder using filename
yourlast nameHW2.doc).
Week 7 - Research Design.
Scope: To learn how to formulate a research design.
Objective: To assess the importance of the introduction, purpose statement, research building blocks, definitions, delimitations, and research significance in formulating a research design.
Required Readings:
Creswell, Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 8.
JJR, Chapter 5.
RL, Chapter 3.
Lesson Handout:
Research Design—A Few Comments (LH7).
Supplemental Readings: None.
Turn-In: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Week 8 – Qualitative, Comparative, and Predictive Research Designs.
Scope: This lesson will lead the student through the process of formulating qualitative and comparative research designs.
Objectives:
1. To categorize the different types of qualitative and comparative case studies.
2. To assess the concept of descriptive inference.
3. To formulate qualitative and comparative research designs.
4. To assess the Delphi and LAMP techniques for predictive research.
Required Readings:
Creswell, Chapter 10.
RL, Review Chapters 1-3.
Lesson Handouts. Click on Course Materials/Lesson Handouts folder and download handout with following file name.
Introduction to Case Studies (LH8).
The Delphi Technique (LH9).
The Delphi Technique in Social Science Research (LH10).
Supplemental Readings: Review LAMP web site at
Turn-In: Check weekly Newsgroup discussion.
Week 9 - Quantitative and Mixed Method Research Designs.
Scope: This lesson will lead the student through the process of formulating quantitative research designs.
Objectives:
1. To introduce statistical inference.
2. To understand how to formulate quantitative and multi-method (triangulated) research designs.
Required Readings:
Creswell, Chapters 9 & 11.
JJR, Reread Chapter 5.
Supplemental Readings: