Required Reading
[DC] = Campbell, Donald, Julian Stanley, and N.L. Gage. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Houghton Mifflin, 1981. ISBN: 9780395307878.
[PS] = Shively, W. Phillips. The Craft of Political Research. Prentice Hall, 2010. ISBN: 9780205791200.
SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
---|---|---|
Part I: The Scientific Method | ||
1 | Introduction and Course Overview | [No Readings] |
2 | Models and Theories in Political Science |
[PS] Chapters 1-2. Riker, William. "The Two-Party System and Duverger's Law: An Essay on the History of Political Science." American Political Science Review 76 (1982). Mayhew, David. "Electoral Realignments." Annual Review of Political Science 3 (2000). |
Part II: Methods of Research | ||
3 | Introduction to Research Design and The Experimental Method |
[DC] pp. 1-64. Berinsky, Adam, and Donald Kinder. "Making Sense of Issues through Media Frames: Understanding the Kosovo Crisis." Journal of Politics 68, no. 3 (2006). |
4 | Experiments in Political Science |
Cover, Albert, and Bruce Brumberg. "Baby Books and Ballots: The Impact of Congressional Mail on Constituent Opinion." American Political Science Review 76, no. 2 (June 1982). Susan Hyde. "The Observer Effect in International Politics Evidence From A Natural Experiment." World Politics 60, no. 1 (2007). Gerber, Alan, Donald Green, and Christopher Larimer. "Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Largescale Field Experiment." American Political Science Review 102, no. 1 (2008). Habyarimana, James, Macartan Humphreys, Daniel Posner, and Jeremy Weinstein. 2007. "Why Does Ethnic Diversity Undermine Public Goods Provision?" American Political Science Review 101, no. 4 (2007). |
5 | Case Studies, Comparing Cases, and Statistical Analysis |
Gerring, John. "What is a Case Study Good For? Case Study versus Large-N Cross-Case Analysis." In Case Study Research: Principles and Practices. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 37-63. ISBN: 9780521676564. Lieberman, Evan. "Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Analysis." American Political Science Review 99, no. 3 (2005). Feaver, Peter D., Christopher Gelpi, and Jason Reifler. 2005-6. "Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity and the War in Iraq." International Security 30, no. 3 (2005-6): 7-46. Berinsky, Adam. "Assuming the Costs of War: Events, Elites, and American Public Support for Military Conflict." The Journal of Politics 69, no. 4 (2007): 975-997. OptionalFor reviewing the basics of statistical analysis [PS] Chapters 7-9. |
Part III: Gathering Data | ||
6 | Selecting and Sampling Cases |
Geddes, Barbara. "How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics." Political Analysis 2 (1991):131-50. Achen, Christopher H., and Duncan Snidal. "Rational Deterrence Theory and Comparative Case Studies." World Politics 41, no. 2 (1989): 143-169. Goldhagen, Daniel. "A Note on Methods." Appendix 1 in Hitler's Willing Executioners. Vintage, 1997. ISBN: 9780679772682. |
7 | Observation, Measurement, and Political Implications I |
[PS] Chapters 4-5. Putnam, Robert. Chapter 3 in Making Democracy Work. Princeton University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780691037387. Robert Jackman, and Ross Miller. "A Renaissance of Political Culture?" American Journal of Political Science 40, no. 3 (August 1996): 632-659. |
8 | Observation, Measurement, and Political Implications II |
Gladwell, Malcolm. "Examined Life: What Stanley Kaplan Taught us about the SAT." The New Yorker, December 17, 2001. Brady, Henry, et al. "Law and Data: The Butterfly Ballot Episode." PS: Political Science and Politics 34, no. 1 (March 2001): 59-69. Nisbett, Richard, and Timothy Wilson. "Telling More Than We Can Know: Verbal Reports on Mental Processes," Psychological Review 84, no. 3 (1977): 231-259. Fenno, Richard F., Jr. "The House Appropriations Committee as a Political System: The Problem of Integration." American Political Science Review 56, no. 2 (1962): 310-324. |
Part IV: Guest Lectures | ||
9 | Jens Hainmueller | [No Readings] |
10 | Vipin Narang | [No Readings] |
Part V: Student Presentations | ||
11 | Group 1 | [No Readings] |
12 | Group 2 | [No Readings] |
13 | Group 3 | [No Readings] |
Part VI: Conclusions | ||
14 | Ethics and Political Research |
Milgram, Stanley. "Some Conditions of Obedience and Disobedience to Authority." Human Relations 18 (1965):57-76. Zimbardo, Phillip. "A Pirandellian Prison," New York Times Magazine, April 8, 1973. (See also Zimbardo's description of this Prison experiment at http://www.prisonexp.org ) |
15 | Final Thoughts | [No Readings] |