This field focuses on scholarship directed at providing appropriate methodologies for investigating theoretically motivated political questions. Departmental activities in methods are organized around deductive/analytical, empirical/inductive, and computational approaches to modeling political phenomena.
Students pursuing this field will demonstrate competency in:
- mathematics and statistics
- research design
- formal modeling
- hypothesis testing
Graduate training is designed so that students pursuing Political Methodology as a first field, by the completion of their Ph.D. programs, will have also earned the Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS) Certificate. See the PARISS certificate website. Students do not need to apply to the certificate program; however, you are encouraged to submit a proposal to the PARISS faculty early on in order to get feedback on their proposed plan of study.
First Field
Coursework
- POLSCI 630 Probability and Basic Regression
- POLSCI 631 Introduction to Deductive & Analytical Approaches to Political Phenomena
- 4 courses selected from the Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS) Certificate. See PARISS website.
The PARISS courses need to be selected and approved in conjunction with your advisor and documented in a written plan to be evaluated by the Political Methodology faculty. This will be coordinated by the Political Methodology Field Chair.
Preliminary examination
All students must complete a preliminary examination at the end of their second year which consists of a second year paper and an oral defense. The second year paper must be submitted to the student’s preliminary exam committee and the DGS by May 1st and the oral examination must be completed by May 15th. Students should speak with the field chair and their primary advisor(s) well in advance of these deadlines to ensure a shared understanding of what is expected.
Second Field
Students pursuing Political Methods as a second field must propose a course list that is approved by the student's advisor and the field leader in Political Methods. The goal is to provide a strong foundation for students to be able to execute rigorous research methods related to their research questions.
In addition to POLSCI 731, 630, and 748, which all students complete with their cohort, students who elect to take methods as second field (at any point) are required to pass an exam demonstrating sufficient preparation for the field and successfully complete three advanced courses.
The plan for the advanced set of courses is created jointly by the advisor and the student in line with the planned dissertation and must be approved by the methods field chair. There are two possible tracks, with course requirements are as follows:
Track: Applied Statistics
- THREE ADVANCED METHODS COURSES, of which: (1) at least one taught in political science (e.g., Advanced Regression, Machine Learning, Applied Bayesian Modeling); and (2) at least two taught outside the department, chosen from suitable options in computer science, statistics, or econometrics
Track: Formal and Computational
- Prerequisites:
- Analysis (Math 431 or 531)
- and Data Structures and Algorithms (CS 201)
- POLSCI 631L Introduction to Deductive & Analytical Approaches to Political Phenomena
- Two electives related to formal or computational methods (e.g., Game theory 2 PS 730; Advanced game theory PS 749; Social networks PS 634; Computational PE)
- Graduate microeconomics (Econ 601, or 701, or 705) or Graduate CS elective (e.g., AI CS 570; Machine learning CS 571; Reinforcement learning CS 590; or Computational micro CS 590)