Schedule

Why and how do we measure things?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Aug 23 Why use data in political science?

Nothing!
Tue, Aug 25 What even is data analysis?
Sun, Aug 30 Measurement and research design I
  • Yoon Soo Park, Lars Konge, and Anthony R. Artino, “The Positivism Paradigm of Research,” Academic Medicine 95, no. 5 (2020): 690–94, https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000003093
  • Gerardo L. Munck, Jørgen Møller, and Svend-Erik Skaaning, “Conceptualization and Measurement: Basic Distinctions and Guidelines,” in The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations, ed. Luigi Curini and Robert Franzese (SAGE Publications Ltd, 2020), https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526486387.n22
  • Anna Lührmann, Marcus Tannenberg, and Staffan I. Lindberg, “Regimes of the World (RoW): Opening New Avenues for the Comparative Study of Political Regimes,” Politics and Governance 6, no. 1 (2018): 60–77, https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v6i1.1214
  • Explore the Arab Barometer website (https://www.arabbarometer.org/) and see what kind of data they have
Tue, Sep 1 Measurement and research design II
  • Research Paradigms Explained: Positivism, Interpretivism & Critical Realism 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLK-Vnc5gjg
  • Margit Van Wessel, Rita Manchanda, and Nandini Deo, “How Civil Society in India Is Marginalized. Civic Space as Relational Process,” Journal of Civil Society 21, no. 3 (2025): 237–55, https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2025.2515038
  • Suparna Chaudhry, Marc Dotson, and Andrew Heiss, “Navigating Hostility: The Effect of Nonprofit Transparency and Accountability on Donor Preferences in the Face of Shrinking Civic Space,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2025, 1–27, https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640251348654
Sun, Sep 6 Problem set 1 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 1 instructions

How do we work with data?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Sep 6 Data visualization I
Tue, Sep 8 Data visualization II
Mon, Sep 14 Problem set 2 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 2 instructions
Sun, Sep 13 Data wrangling I
Tue, Sep 15 Data wrangling II
Sun, Sep 20 Data importing and tidy data I
Tue, Sep 22 Data importing and tidy data II
Sat, Sep 26 Problem set 3 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 3 instructions
Sun, Sep 27 Quiz 1 (in-class)

How do we model things in the world?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Sep 27 Simple linear regression I
Tue, Sep 29 Simple linear regression II
Sat, Oct 3 Problem set 4 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 4 instructions
Sun, Oct 4 Multiple regression I
Tue, Oct 6 Multiple regression II
Sun, Oct 11 Fall break

Nothing!
Tue, Oct 13 Fall break

Nothing!
Sun, Oct 18 Problem set 5 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 5 instructions
Sun, Oct 18 Quiz 2 (in-class)

How do we infer things about the world?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Oct 18 Sampling I
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 7.1–7.3
  • Other readings TBA
Tue, Oct 20 Sampling II
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 7.4–7.6
  • Other readings TBA
Sun, Oct 25 Estimation, confidence intervals, and bootstrapping I
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 8.1–8.2
  • Other readings TBA
Tue, Oct 27 Estimation, confidence intervals, and bootstrapping II
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 8.3–8.5
  • Other readings TBA
Sun, Nov 1 Problem set 6 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 6 instructions
Sun, Nov 1 Hypothesis testing I
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 9.1–9.4
  • Other readings TBA
Tue, Nov 3 Hypothesis testing II
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 9.5–9.7
  • Other readings TBA
Sun, Nov 8 Inference for regression I
Tue, Nov 10 Inference for regression II
Sat, Nov 14 Problem set 7 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 7 instructions
Sun, Nov 15 Quiz 3 (in-class)

Can we do slightly fancier analyses?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Nov 15 Marginal effects
Tue, Nov 17 Logistic regression
Sun, Nov 22 Causation
Tue, Nov 24 Prediction
  • Readings TBA
Sun, Nov 29 Problem set 8 due (submit by 23:59)

Problem set 8 instructions

How can we communicate these results to regular people?

Date Topic Reading (before class!) Class
Sun, Nov 29 Tell your story with data I
  • Ismay, et al. ModernDive, 11.1–11.3
  • Other readings TBA
Tue, Dec 1 Tell your story with data II
  • Readings TBA