Political Science 200
Political Analysis
Spring, 2000

INSTRUCTOR:                W R DANIEL
OFFICE:                          130 Founders Hall
HOURS                            2:30 - 4:3- M; 3:00 - 4:00 TuTh; Or by appt.
PHONE/E-MAIL:              826-3914; wrd1@humboldt.edu

You may also wish to make use of the links on the left of your screen.

As students of politics we seek to understand how and why people argue about governance. We may engage in basic research to explain political affairs or conduct applied research to manipulate political attitudes and actions. Whether we are interested in doing one or the other, or both, we need to analyze and evaluate our techniques and assure they are valid and reliable. Further, we must maintain a critical approach to appreciate the limitations of various research and analytical methods used by others. This course is designed to help meet those goals.

You are expected to think, read, discuss, argue, conduct laboratory research, and write.  Your end product will be an 8 - 10 page research report in which you will define a research problem, conduct a literature review, formulate a hypothesis, define concepts, propose a research design (qualitative, quantitative, or both), test your hypothesis, and report your findings.  The paper and presentation will be worth 40% of your grade.  Lab assignments will also be worth 40% of your grade (4 points each for your best ten).  These assignments will be due the Monday (9:00) following the lab period appropriate for the subject being covered.  These exercises are found in the workbook and correspond with the chapters in the Johnson test. Attendance and participation in discussions  will account for the remaining 20% of your grade.

The Research Report

Your assignment is to prepare a short research report by completing the following steps with the times specified.

1. Pose a political research question. Ask a question about government and politics that you wish to pursue in depth. Submit your question no later than January 24.
2. Review your literature search for theories and sources of data about your question. Submit a theory that may explain an answer to your question no later than February 7.
3. Generate a hypothesis or two from your theory and submit them no later than February 21.
4. Operationalize the variables in your hypothesis. Submit an explanation of how you plan to measure your variables no later than March 7.
5. Gather and analyze data to test the hypothesis. You may use qualitative or quantitative methods, or both. Submit the sources from which you plan to gather your data no later than March 28.
6. Construct two or three tables, graphs, or figures to present your data analysis and submit them no later than April 9.
7. Write a five-page report explicating a text or explaining your tables or graphs and submit a draft, including proper citations, and list of references no later than April 16.
8. Submit your edited and polished written report no later than April 30.
9. Present your research and analysis orally to the class as scheduled.

Lecture/Discussion Schedule

Week 1            Introduction; Johnson, Ch. 1 SPSS intro

Week 2            Scientific Inquiry; Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 2; Johnson, Ch. 14

Week 3            Theories, hypotheses, concepts and variables; Johnson & Workbook,       Chs. 4

Week 4            Literature review; Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 5

Week 5            The research design; Johnson & Workbook, Chs.3

Week 6            Operationalizing variables (measurement); Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 6

Week 7            Empirical Observation (qualitative) measurement) Johnson & Workbook, Chs 7

Week 8            Working with documents; Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 8

Week 9            Sampling; Johnson and Workbook, Chs. 9

Week 10           Survey Research; Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 10

Week 11          Univariate  data analysis; Johnson & Workbook; Chs 11

Week 12          Bivariate data analysis; Johnson and Workbook, Chs. 12

Week 13          Multivariate analysis; Johnson & Workbook, Chs. 13

Weeks 14 &15    Reread Johnson, Ch. 14!  Presentations begin (times assigned)

May 11           10:20 - 12:10  Presentations continue if necessary