Quantitative Empirical Methods of Political Science

Course Overview

This course offers an advanced introduction to the quantitative empirical methods political scientists use in their systematic analyses of politics, i.e., to the statistical methods used (i) in the measurement and description, (ii) in the prediction and forecasting, (iii) in the hypothesis testing and causal inference, and (iv) in the specification, estimation, and interpretation of empirical models of political phenomena. The course emphasizes the formulation of positive political theories; the derivation of hypotheses from and/or the specification of empirical models of those theories; and the use of data to test those hypotheses and/or to estimate those empirical models. Statistical concepts, reasoning, and methods are a central focus, but no prerequisite is required: the course instruction will include all the mathematics, statistics, and computing needed, from the ground up.