Research Methods in Political Science

Stanton POLS 277 Fall 08

Political Science 277

Research Methods in Political Science

Fall 2008 MWF8 am, Lab M 6:30 pm HAL 301

Dr. Samuel S. Stanton, Jr.

Office:HAL 303E

Office Hours: MWF 9-11 am, MW 4-5 pm, TTh 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Phone: ext. 3854

Email:

Webpage:

“I am unpersuaded by the view that the prime rules of scientific method should differ between ‘hard science’ and the social sciences. Science is science.”

--Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods

Overview: This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts and mechanics of political science research. The process of scientific political research will be the starting point for the course, which will then proceed to an understanding of gathering and testing data using basic statistical methods.

The course begins with consideration of what makes political science a “science”. What logic must we follow to engage in scientific consideration of political phenomenon? That is, how is research conducted, how is it designed, what is the process by which we engage in the study of political phenomenon?

The course moves on to consider approaches to quantitative research. The topics in this section are based on understanding the gathering of data and design of research tests. What are the fundamental concepts required to understand quantitative methods in political science? How are samples collected? What is the difference between a sample and population? How are tests designed to make the best use of the sample data?

The next section of the course focuses on statistical concepts in the quantitative research process. Included in this section is understanding the use of descriptive statistics, and nonparametric measures of statistical relationship. Students will become familiar with use of excel and SPSS for statistical analysis and with the proper methods of reporting research results using tables, charts, and graphs.

This course is primarily focused on quantitative methods of political analysis. Time permitting qualitative methods will also be discussed. Quantitative analysis requires the development of an understanding for use of statistics to analyze the relationship between variables. Using statistics does mean using mathematical formulas. However, none of the formulas for this course exceed what a person could reasonably be expected to have learned in a basic college algebra class.

Goals:

• To assist students in developing fundamental skills of research and analysis for use in the scientific study of political phenomenon.
• To help students examine the application of this knowledge to their futures.
• To assist students in living lives that glorify and honor God through the advancement of knowledge.

Outcomes:

• Students will exhibit the ability to apply scientific research principles to political phenomenon.(Dept. Obj. 2, 6, 7)
• Students will show understanding of the scientific method of conducting research. (Dept. Obj. 2, 4, 5, 6)
• Students will show ability to generate research questions and conduct a research project to answer a generated question. (Dept. Obj. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7)
• Students will exhibit ability to conduct data entry and data analysis using SPSS. (Dept. Obj. 2, 4, 7).

Measurement of Goals and Outcomes:

Measurement of goals and outcomes will be made by use of regularly scheduled homework and lab assignments, an objective and quantitative final examination, the course paper written and corrected in three segments, and the observation of student involvement in regular class meetings and scheduled lab sessions.

General Objectives for Students Majoring in Political Science

1. Have acquired knowledge of the four major subject areas (American Politics, Political Theory, International Relations, and Comparative Politics) of political science

1. Be Competitive for graduate and professional school opportunities. Political science majors with strong academic records will be competitive for both master’s and Ph.D. programs in political science and other professional programs and will be competitive for financial stipends.

1. Be familiar with entry level jobs suitable for political science majors.

1. Be competitive for entry level jobs suitable for political science majors.

1. Have the ability to read, comprehend, and evaluate content in professional political science journals, scholarly books, and websites..

1. Show familiarity with, and the ability to critically evaluate, information sources in the Social Sciences.

1. Demonstrate a mastery of research and writing skills in the field of political science.
2. Develop and capacity to apply a Christian moral principles to issues and topics within political science, including using a Christian perspective to evaluate critically political ideas, public policies, and political figures. Simply stated, our aim is that students will seek to understand the field of politics as individuals who are committed to historic Christian thought.

Course Requirements: This course demands student participation. Many technical and challenging concepts will be discussed in class that may not be as clear if a student only has the benefit of reading the text. So, attendance is highly recommended. There will be numerous homework assignments during the semester and a course paper that will be developed and graded in sections over the length of the semester. YOU WILL NEED TO BRING YOUR LAPTOP/NOTEBOOK COMPUTER TO ALL CLASS MEETINGS.

Participation: You cannot participate if you are not present. I do not call roll often and I do not expect that every student will be present for every class period. However, I do expect you to be present unless there are mitigating circumstances such as illness and university sanctioned event participation. Participation is more than simply being in the room, participation is discussion, questioning, and answering. This represents 20% of your grade.

Homework: There will be several homework assignments that will count as 35% of the grade in the course. There are enough homework assignments that no single assignment will torpedo your grade, but the assignments should not be taken lightly. You will be given notice in class when homework is due. On rare occasion, homework will be given out during class and students will be required to complete it and return the assignment that day (when this is done, emailing the assignment is acceptable).

Course Paper: The course paper will be developed in sections over the course of the semester. The sections are: 1) Introduction, Theory, Hypotheses and Literature Review; 2) Data, Concepts, Models, and Analysis; and, 3) Findings and Conclusions. As each section is turned in, It will be commented on and returned to the student with a grade. This grade is what the paper merits without correction at this point in time. When the next section is due, it is expected that the student will also correct the previous section and resubmit the whole. In this manner, the only part of the work that will not have been proofed and commented on prior to the end of the project is the Findings and Conclusions. The paper is to be written using style guidelines found in the Guide to Writing Research Papers section of this syllabus. The paper will be 15-20 pages in length when completed, as each of the 3 sections should be at least 5 pages. Proper margins and a standard 12 point font are expected. The paper is 35% of the grade.

For this paper students must develop a question about U.S. Politics, either domestic or foreign policy. You are required to use a version of the American National Election Survey (available in the course public folder) as your dataset for the paper.

Final Exam: Per Grove CityCollege regulations, there will be a final exam given during the scheduled time. The exam will cover all aspects of the course. This exam is 10% of your overall grade.

Grade:

Participation20%

Homework35%

Paper35%

Final Exam10%

Grading Scale:

90-100A

80-89B

70-79C

60-69D

Below 60F

The final computed grade is rounded off. If you have a 79.5 it becomes an 80 and receives a mark of B, a grade of 79.44 is rounded off to 79 and you have a C. +/- grades are given on the basis of student performance during the semester.

Attendance and Behavior: You are adults in an upper division course, I feel no compulsion to take role and keep tabs on your attendance. However, you cannot participate if you are not in attendance. This course will center on discussion of the literature as a pathway to learning critical thinking skills. Civility is required, so see Will Moore’s essay on civility located on my website.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious violation of moral and academic principles. It involves claiming as one’s own original work the ideas, phrasing, or creative work of another person. As such, plagiarism is a direct violation of the biblical commandments against stealing, bearing false witness, and covetousness; thus, the Grove CityCollege policy. We encourage our students to think seriously about the demands of their Christian faith in regards to this issue.

We remind students that plagiarism includes the following:

1)any direct quotation of another’s words, from simple phrasing to longer passages, without using quotation marks and properly citing the source of those words;

2)any summary or paraphrase of another’s ideas without properly citing the source of those ideas;

3)any information that is not common knowledge —including facts, statistics, graphics, drawings—without proper citation of sources;

4)any cutting and pasting of verbal or graphic materials from another source—including books, databases, web sites, journals, newspapers, etc.—without the proper citation for each of the sources of those materials; this includes any copyrighted artwork, graphics, or photography downloaded from the Internet without proper citation;

5)any wholesale “borrowing,” theft, or purchasing of another’s work and presenting it as one’s own, whether from the Internet or from another source;

6)any presentation of “ghost-written” papers—whether paid for or not—as one’s own original work;

7)making one’s work available for copying by others, as well as copying work posted on the Internet or otherwise made available by another.

The above statement is taken from the Grove City College Bulletin and The Crimson. Plagiarism in written work in this course will result in a grade of 0 being assigned to that work. Opportunity to correct and resubmit the work is based on time remaining in the course, nature of the plagiarism (is it simply forgotten or improper citation or is it cutting and pasting entire sections of someone else’s work), and whether or not this is a repeat offense for the individual student.

Communication: Things always change over the course of a semester, which necessitates changing dates for assignments and the course outline. I will communicate with you as much information as possible at the start of each class. As a backup to this, I will create an email list for the class and will email all pertinent information to the members of this class, so check your email. If you email me, do not leave the subject line blank, I delete email with blank subject lines without reading it.

Text: The text and workbook can be purchased as a package.

Janet B. Johnson and H.T. Reynolds, (2007). Political Science Research Methods, 6th

Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press

Course Outline: (This Outline is not set in stone and will change as necessary).

Aug 25-Sep 26Designing Scientific Political Research

1. Course Introduction/Examination of Syllabus and Text

2. What is Political Science Research (J & R Chap 1)

3. The Science of Political Science (J & R Chap 2)

--the science of Political Science

--logic and reasoning

--why engage in scientific research?

4. The Research Process

--identify the problem

--establish objectives

--pick a strategy

--prepare a plan/proposal

--gather data

--analyze the data

--presenting findings

5. Finding and Focusing on Research Topics

6. Research Design (J & R Chap 3)

--theory

--literature review

--hypotheses

--tests (quantitative designs)

--findings

--conclusions

Sep 29-Oct 27 Building Blocks of Social Science Research

1. Hypotheses, Concepts, Variables (J & R Chap 4)

Hypotheses

--proposed answer to the research question

--formulating good hypotheses

Concepts

--a measurable idea

Variables

--measurement of a concept

2. Measurement (J & R Chap 5)

--methods/strategies

--accuracy

-reliability

-validity

--precision

3. Literature Review (J & R Chap 6)

--Why do a lit review?

--How to conduct a lit review

--Using internet sources

4. Sampling (J&R Chap 7)

--basics

--types

--inference

-distribution

-margin of error

5. Observations (J & R Chap 8)

--techniques of data collection

--types of observation

-direct

-indirect

--ethics of observation

Oct 29-Dec 10 Gathering and Analyzing Data

1. Interviews and Surveys (J&R Chap 10)

--interviewing elites

--how to ask questions

--how to order and design questionnaires

--validity and inference from surveys

2. Univariate Analysis/Descriptive Statistics (J&R Chap 11)

--frequency distributions

--mean, median, mode (descriptives)

--normal distribution/statistical inference

3. Bivariate Analysis (J&R Chap 12)

--Crosstabulation

-strength of relationship

-direction of relationship

-creating and interpreting tabulations

-statistical independence

-association

-statistical significance

--Difference of Means

--Regression

-modeling

-parameters

-fit of model

-fit of regression line

-test of significance

-correlation

--substantive versus statistical significance

PAPER DEADLINES (sections of paper are due in my office by 5 pm on due date)

Section 1 (Introduction, Theory, Hypotheses, Literature Review) due10/27.

Section 2 (Data, Concepts, Models, Analysis*) and Section 1 rewrite due10/21.

Section 3 (Findings and Conclusions) rewrites of Section 1 and 2 due12/10.

* at the time this material is due, we may or may not have already covered regression analysis, if we have not you do not need to include a regression at this time, but should include a regression in the final product.

Final Exam will be at the scheduled time.

GUIDE FOR WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS

A research paper should pose a question about some relevant event or behavior. This question should be easily recognizable and found somewhere in the first page of your paper. Included in the introduction of your paper should be a defense of why anyone should care about finding an answer to your question. You must conduct a literature review that critically evaluates how other scholarship has addressed the general area of your question (or in some cases, how other scholarship has addressed your question specifically). The literature review serves two purposes: One, it allows you to develop a theoretical explanation of how events or behaviors occur. Two, it allows you to determine and explain how your paper adds to our knowledge of the event or behavior (strengthening your argument about why we should care to read your paper).

Your proposed answer to the research question is your hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests factors that contribute to or impede the event or behavior in question. Hypotheses infer something about events or behaviors based on interpretation of some observation(s). What this means is that in political science we are in the business of inferring causation, if you want to simply report what is, take a journalism class. The hypothesis is a testable claim. By using quantitative or qualitative methods, you test the hypothesis for strength and validity. This means specifying how you are measuring and interpreting causal factors. It also means reaching findings (inferences) about whether or not your hypothesis provides a quality answer to the research question.

Research papers end with a conclusion section that ties everything together. What do we learn about the event or behavior from the research you have conducted? What does this tell us about the world and its future?

Research relies on the evaluation of multiple sources. If you rely on one or two sources for most or all of your research you have engaged in plagiarism. Papers that include plagiarism earn an automatic 0. Popular media should generally be avoided as a source of information (although use of sources such as the New York Times, London Times, etc. for specificity of events and statements made by people is acceptable). Textbooks should also generally be avoided as a source of information (if you have a question about whether or not a book is a textbook, just ask your professor). Generally, for a paper of 20 pages in length you would desire about 15 quality sources of information.

Style and grammar do matter. Because grammar matters, proofread!!! Because grammar matters do not use dangling modifiers, end sentences with prepositions, use sentence fragments, etc. Because style matters, look at a style manual and use appropriate citation style (not citing the source of information used in your paper is plagiarism), use appropriate bibliography styles, and always number your pages appropriately.

In Political Science, two styles are prevalent in the scholarly literature—APSA, which is a revised form of APA, and Turabian, also known as the Chicago Manual of Style (which was originally edited by Katherine Turabian). Since the purpose of this course is in part to correctly train you in appropriate writing technique for professional political science work, you will find provided for you in the space below, examples of proper in-text citation, proper footnote citations, and proper bibliographical citations. For all other issues (page numbering, title pages, subdivisions (chapters, sub-chapters, etc.) within a paper, etc.) use APSA or Turabian style. A copy of the APSA style manual may be borrowed for 24 hours from Dr. Stanton.

IN-TEXT CITATION (APSA):

Olzak (1992) offers an ecological theory of ethnic conflict. The basis of the theory is competition causes conflict. James (2002) refers to competition as the moral equivalent of war. Competition is an embedded structure in humans and affects the actions of individuals. When translated into group settings we see similarities to sports teams athletic contests. The struggle becomes “us vs. them”, a struggle for glory, reputation, and prestige. Competition is so ingrained it cannot be rooted out of the behavioral patterns of people. As James notes, our ancestors bred it into us (2002, 146). Competition for resources and position are fuel for a greater dilemma. Any gain made by a group will elicit a response from at least one other group in society, decreasing stability and increasing the likelihood of the security dilemma.

NOTE: if you are using in-text citation, footnotes or endnotes are used solely for the purpose of providing additional information that was not warranted as part of the actual text.

NOTE: if you directly quote or use ideas directly from a source, it requires year and page number as in the third citation in the example paragraph.