Quantitative Political Analysis

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is designed to achieve three objectives: (1) introduce you to research and quantitative analysis in political science, (2) help you become critical consumers of political information and policy-oriented reporting, and (3) give you the ability to answer questions of social scientific importance using data. Throughout the course, we'll discuss the complexities of generating good research designs, starting with how to ask interesting questions and how to measure concepts of interest to social scientists. Students in this course will learn to understand the most common statistical techniques used in political science and acquire the skills necessary to use these techniques and interpret their results. A mastery of these techniques is essential for understanding research on public opinion and voting behavior, electoral studies, and comparative research on the causes of democracy. The target audience for this course is undergraduate students with interest in the social sciences (not only Political Science), who want to use quantitative approaches to solve important problems, as well as develop marketable analytical skills.