Pol 30: political inquiry
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This course provides an introduction to the tools of political inquiry, especially basic statistical methods. while political science has traditionally ...
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POL30:PoliticalInquirySpring2007MW12:00-12:50ProfessorScottDesposatoOffice:325SocialSciencesBuildingOfficeHours:W10:00-12:00phone:858-534-0198email:[email protected]:swd.ucsd.eduIntroductionThiscourseprovidesanintroductiontothetoolsofpoliticalinquiry,especiallybasicstatisticalmethods.Whilepoliticalsciencehastraditionallyrelieduponlargelynon-quantitativework,severalfactorshaveledtoadramaticincreaseintheuseofstatisticstostudypoliticalphenomenon.First,increasingavailabilityofhigh-qualitydataallowscholarstotesthypothesesthattheypreviouslycouldnot.Second,advancesincomput-inghavemadequantitativemethodsrelativelyeasyandaccessible.Third,quantitativemethodshaveproventobeextremelypowerfulandflexibletoolsforsocialscientists.Quantitativemethodsareclearlyheretostayandgrowinginscopeandapplication.CourseObjectivesWehavethreebasicgoalsinthecourse.First,afterthiscourse,youshouldbepreparedtoreadandunderstandmostquantitativeresearchincurrentpoliticalsciencejournals.Second,youshouldbecarefulandcriticalconsu...