Instructor: Marcus Schaper (schaper AT reed.edu)
Room: ELIOT 123
Thursday, at 1:10 pm - 2:30 pm
Office hours: Tuesday 3:00 – 5:00 pm and by appointment; location: ELIOT 101D

The purpose of this course is to guide your through your Political Science qualifying exams. To this end we will read texts on research design and research methods and discuss your projects. This should both improve your designs and pre-empt any problems in passing the exam. Books:
•    Baglione, Lisa A. (2007) Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 0-495-09262-2 (good how-to guide and affordable; bookstore has it for POL 345 and POL 350)
•    Van Evera, Stephen (1997). Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (good and cheap; bookstore has it for Anthony Pezzola’s course)
•    John W. Cresswell (2003): Research Design - Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage. (not a must-buy, but good on method)


August 30, 2007     Thursday    ELIOT 123
Finding your research question
Reading: Baglione, Chapters 1 and 2

September 6, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123
Asking the RIGHT research question
Reading: Laurence F. Jones and Edward C. Olson (1996): Political Science Research: A Handbook of Scope and Methods. Chapter 2: The Problem: Essence of the Research Project, p.22-29 (online PDF).
    John W. Cresswell (2003): Research Design - Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Second Edition. Chapter 6: Research Questions and Hypotheses, p. 105-18 (online PDF).

September 10, 2007    Monday 12 noon    CC-112
Proposal due at Lois Hobbs’ office
    
September 13, 2007    Thursday 12 noon    CC-126    
Proposal lunch

September 18, 2007    Tuesday 7 pm    meet in library lobby, class in L-17
Use of the library and databases. Dena Hutto will show us how to make best use of the library’s resources, including research in databases.
Reading: Janet Buttolph Johnson and H. T. Reynolds (2004): Political Science Research Methods, 5th Edition, CQ Press. Chapter 5. Conducting a Literature Review (online PDF).

September 20, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123
Using Endnote for your bibliography and beyond. Bring your laptops so that we can work on your bibliographies.

September 27, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123
Writing a literature review. A review of the existing literature is a key component of a research paper. Researching the literature shows you what has already been written on the subject and provides you with an idea of the theoretical and methodological approaches taken by other researchers.
Reading: Baglione, Chapter 3: Addressing the Scholarly Debate: The Literature Review
    John W. Cresswell (2003): Research Design - Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Second Edition. Chapter 2: Review of the Literature, p. 27-48 (online PDF).

October 4, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123    
Hypotheses, theory, and falsification
Reading: Van Evera, Stephen (1997). Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Introduction and Chapter 1: Hypotheses, Laws, and Theories: A User’s Guide, p. 1-48.
    Baglione, Chapter 4: Effectively Distilling the Argument: The Thesis or the Model and Hypothesis

October 8, 2007    Monday 12 noon    CC-112
Bibliographies due Monday at Lois Hobbs’ office

October 11, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123    
Case Selection
Reading: Van Evera, Stephen (1997). Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Chapter 2: What Are Case Studies? How should they be performed? P. 49-88.

October 16-18, 2007    Fall Break

October 22, 2007    Monday 12 noon    CC-112
Outlines due at Lois Hobbs’ office

October 25, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123    
Choosing your method
Reading: John W. Cresswell (2003): Research Design - Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Second Edition. Part II: Designing Research (focus your reading on what is relevant for your project, but do read chapters 4, 5,7, and 8).

November 1, 2007    Thursday    ELIOT 123    
Methods discussion and presentation prep

November 5, 2007    Monday 12 noon    CC-112
Draft of the Research Designs due at Lois Hobbs’ office
    
November 8, 2007    Thursday 12 noon    CC-126
Mini oral presentations

November 15, 2007     Thursday    ELIOT 123
Digesting the presentation feedback

November 22, 2007     Thursday    
Thanksgiving – no class

November 29, 2007     Thursday    ELIOT 123
TBD

December 7, 2007    Friday 12 noon    CC-112
Final papers due at Lois Hobbs’ office