Causal Inference

3 units

The course serves as both an introduction for the mechanisms by which political scientists draw causal inferences using quantitative data as well as an introduction for the basic statistical tools necessary for quantitative research in the social sciences. There are three main goals of this course: to teach students to read, understand and criticize quantitative analysis in published and unpublished work, to provide them with the skills necessary to begin conducting their own analyses, and to lay the foundations for quantitative methods. We will cover the fundamentals of how political scientists are able to draw causal inferences. To do so, we will review basic probability and statistics. We will then discuss the types of inferences possible with different data-generating processes, including laboratory experiments, randomized field experiments, and observational data. There are no prerequisites for this class beyond approaching the material with an open and curious mind. Much of the material in this course is technical and a successful student in this course will spend a significant amount of time outside of class working through problem sets and becoming familiar with the necessary statistical software.