SYLLABUS

POLS 6301/7701

Research Methods

Semester 1
2017

instructor Dr Serdar Kaya St. Lucia, Building #39A, Room 407 office
email Wednesdays, 8am-10am office hours

Course Description
This course is designed to introduce students to the logic of social inquiry. The weekly classes
and tutorials are geared toward giving the students a basic understanding of social research, and
in the process, preparing them to write their own research proposals. The classes before the
midterm focus on the very basic issues of social research, such as identifying puzzles,
formulating research questions, and reviewing the literature for the answers scholars have so far
offered. The classes after the midterm, however, more specifically inquire into the nature of
qualitative and quantitative research. When teaching qualitative and quantitative research
methods, the course acknowledges the philosophies that underlie them on the one hand, and
demonstrates how they may very well be complementary to one another in producing knowledge
on the other. The emphasis on mixed-method research thus helps the students utilize the
particular strengths of both sets of procedures, while gaining a more holistic perspective.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have gained insights into:

• the logic of social inquiry,

• explanatory traditions in social sciences,
• major methodological approaches in social sciences,
• qualitative and quantitative data collection methods,
• in-depth knowledge of methods specific to their research project,
• the ethical and political dimensions of political science research, and
• the issues involved in writing up research reports and theses.

Further, students will be able to:

• demonstrate analytical skills in evaluating research design and practice,

• create their own research questions, and research designs,
• demonstrate the theoretical underpinnings of their chosen approach, and
• use library and electronic resources, and locate appropriate materials.

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Hours and Location

Lecture (all students)

Wednesdays, 11:00am-12:50pm, at Molecular Biosciences Building (#76), Room 228

Tutorial 1 (honour's students)

Wednesdays, 1:00pm-1:50pm, at General Purpose North (#39A), Room 537

Tutorial 2 (master's students)

Wednesdays, 2:00pm-2:50pm, at Goddard Building (#8), Room 212

Required texts
– Bryman, Alan. 2015. Social Research Methods [5th edition]. Oxford University Press.
– Kellstedt, Paul; and Guy Whitten. 2018. The Fundamentals of Political Science Research [3rd
ed.]. Cambridge University Press.
– Brady, Henry; and David Collier (ed). 2010. Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared
Standards [2nd edition]. Rowman & Littlefield.
– King, Gary; Robert Keohane; and Sidney Verba. 1994. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific
Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton University Press.

Online Companion of Bryman (2015)

https://global.oup.com/uk/orc/sociology/brymansrm5e/

Recommended texts (broad)

– Babbie, Earl R. 2015. The Practice of Social Research [15th edition]. Wadsworth.
– Gschwend, Thomas; and Frank Schimmelfennig (ed.). 2011. Research Design in Political
Science: How to Practice what they Preach. Palgrave Macmillan.
– Leedy, Paul D.; and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod. 2018. Practical Research [12th edition]. Prentice-Hall.
– Lowndes, Vivian; David Marsh, and Gerry Stoker (ed.). 2018. Theory and Methods in Political
Science [4th edition]. Red Globe.
– Porta, Donnatella Della; and Michael Keating (ed.). 2010. Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
– Van Evera, Stephen. 1997. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Cornell University
Press.

Recommended texts (specific)

– George, Alexander L.; and Andrew Bennett. 2005. Case Studies and Theory Development in the
Social Sciences. The MIT Press.
– Klotz, Audie; and Deepa Prakash (ed.). 2009. Qualitative Methods in International Relations: A
Pluralist Guide. Palgrave Macmillan.
– Morton, Rebecca B.; and Kenneth C. Williams. 2010. Experimental Political Science and the
Study of Causality: From Nature to the Lab. Cambridge University Press.
– Silverman, David. 2018. Doing Qualitative Research [5th edition]. Sage.

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Grading
– Short Research Proposal 10% week 6, day of class, 11:55pm
– Midterm Exam 20% week 7, day of class, 11:55pm
– Three Review Papers 30% weeks 10, 11, 12, days of class, 11:55pm
– Full Research Proposal 30% the first day of finals week, 11:55pm
– Participation 10%

The Research Proposal

– The Short Proposal should (1) state the research question, (2) explain why the question is
important, (3) include a brief summary of your theoretical approach (if employing a
deductive approach), and/or (4) your intended choice of method, with proper justification.
The Short Proposal should be between 400 and 600 words in length. You may choose to
revise the contents of your Short Research Proposal later on, as you prepare the Full
Research Proposal.

– The Full Research Proposal is the complete version of your research proposal. It should be
between 1700 and 2300 words in length. Detailed instructions, as well as other supporting
documents will be posted to the online platform. In order to get credit, students are required
to submit two identical copies of the assignment before the deadline. One copy is to be
uploaded to the online platform (in .pdf format), and the other is to be submitted to
turnitin.com. ID and password for turnitin.com will be provided in lecture. See below for
more on turnitin.com. (See below for more on turnitin.com) The Full Research Proposal is
meant to come together after a semester-long process. Therefore, excuses will not be
accepted for minor emergencies that occur shortly before the deadline. Deadline extensions
are reserved for highly-exceptional cases.

Review Papers
Each student will write three Review Papers. Each paper will review a different scholarly-written
article published in a respected academic journal. In each review, students will identify the article's
(1) research question, (2) theoretical perspective, and (3) method. Students will then (4) evaluate
the strengths and weaknesses of the article's method. Each review paper will be between 700 to
900 words.

Penalty for Late Submissions

– For late submissions, students will be assessed a penalty of 10% per each calendar day.
– Late submissions will not be accepted after three calendar days.
– Note: All submissions in this course are digital. There will be no hard copies.

Classroom Rules
– Full attendance is necessary for a successful grade.
– Students are expected to do all the readings for the week before coming to class.
– Electronic devices are strictly prohibited. If you require any special accommodation regarding
note-taking, please see the instructor after the first class. For the rationale of this policy, see:

Susan Dynarski. 2017. Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting, The New
York Times, November 22.

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Communication
– The online platform: Check the online platform regularly for announcements. Use the File
section to view or download lecture slides, instructions on assignments, and other supporting
documents.
– Email: My policy is to reply to all messages within 24 hours. If you do not receive a reply in 48
hours, feel free to send me a reminder message.

Grading Scale

7 85-100 High Distinction

6 75-84 Distinction
5 65-74 Credit
4 50-64 Pass
3 45-49 Fail
2 20-44 Fail
1 01-19 Fail

Turnitin.com
– Written work for this course will be submitted via Turnitin, a third party service used for
originality checking to help detect plagiarism. Students will be required to create an account
with Turnitin, and to submit their work via that account, on the terms stipulated in the
agreement between the student and Turnitin. This agreement includes the retention of your
submitted work as part of the Turnitin database.
– Any student with a concern about using the Turnitin service may opt to use an anonymous
identity in their interactions with Turnitin. Students who do not intend to use Turnitin in the
standard manner must notify the instructor at least two weeks in advance of any submission
deadline. In particular, it is the responsibility of any student using the anonymous option (i.e.
false name and temporary e-mail address created for the purpose) to inform the instructor
such that the instructor can match up the anonymous identity with the student.
– For more information, read the privacy policy of Turnitin.com at:
https://help.turnitin.com/Privacy_and_Security/Privacy_and_Security.htm

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Course Schedule

WEEK ONE
Lecture: What is Research?

Required Readings
#1: The nature and process of social research (Bryman, Ch. 1)
#2: Social research strategies (Bryman, Ch. 2)
#3: The scientific study of politics (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 1)
#4: The science in the social science (KKV, Ch. 1)

Recommended Readings
#1: The nature and tools of research (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 1)
#2: Tools of research (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 2)
#3: The heart of the research process (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 3)
#4: The nature of social science research (Walter, Ch. 1)
#5: Human inquiry and science (Babbie, Ch. 1)

WEEK TWO
Lecture: Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology
Tutorial 1 of 8: Overview of Course Assignments

Required Readings
#1: Ontology and epistemology in political science (Marsh and Stoker 2010, Ch. 9)
#2: Evaluating causal relationships (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 3)
#3: Descriptive inference (KKV, Ch. 2)

Recommended Readings
#1: Introduction (Porta and Keating, Ch. 1)
#2: How many approaches in the social sciences? (Porta and Keating, Ch. 2)
#3: Normative political theory and empirical research (Porta and Keating, Ch. 3)
#4: Causal explanation (Porta and Keating, Ch. 4)
#5: Constructivism (Porta and Keating, Ch. 5)
#6: Paradigms, theory, and social research (Babbie, Ch. 2)

WEEK THREE
Lecture: The Research Question; The Literature; The Theory
Tutorial 2 of 8: Introduction to Research Design (1)

Required Readings
#1: Formulating research questions (Bryman, Ch. 4)
#2: Reviewing the literature (Bryman, Ch. 5)
#3: The art of theory building (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 2)
#4: Causality and causal inference (KKV, Ch. 3)

Recommended Readings
#1: The Research Process (Walter, Ch. 3)
#2: The review of the related literature (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 4)
#3: Hypotheses, laws, and theories: A User’s Guide (Van Evera, Ch. 1)

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WEEK FOUR
Lecture: Research Design
Tutorial 3 of 8: Introduction to Research Design (2)

Required Readings
#1: Research designs (Bryman, Ch. 3)
#2: Research design (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 4)
#3: Determining what to observe (KKV, Ch. 4)

Recommended Readings
#1: Concepts and concept formation (Porta and Keating, Ch. 10)
#2: Comparative analysis (Porta and Keating, Ch. 11)
#3: The design of social and political research (Porta and Keating, Ch. 14)
#4: Research design (Walter, Ch. 2)
#5: Research design (Babbie, Ch. 4)
#6: Thinking tools (Klotz and Prakash, Ch. 2) [interpretivist]
#7: Introduction (Gschwend and Schimmelfennig, Ch. 1) [positivist]

WEEK FIVE
Lecture: Quantitative Research (1): An Introduction
Tutorial 4 of 8: Outlining a Research Study

Required Readings
#1: The nature of quantitative research (Bryman, Ch. 7)
#2: Getting to know your data (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 5)
#3: Understanding what to avoid (KKV, Ch. 5)

Recommended Readings
#1: The logic of multivariate analysis (Babbie, Ch. 15)
#2: Unobtrusive research (Bryman, Ch. 11)
#3: Content analysis (Bryman, Ch. 13)

WEEK SIX
Lecture: Quantitative Research (2): Survey Design
Tutorial 5 of 8: Small-n Design

Required Readings
#1: Sampling in quantitative research (Bryman, Ch. 8)
#2: Structured interviewing (Bryman, Ch. 9)
#3: Probability and statistical inference (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 6)
#4: Increasing the number of observations (KKV, Ch. 6)

Recommended Readings
#1: Sampling (Walter, Ch. 5)
#2: Surveys (Walter, Ch. 6)
#3: Population-level analysis (Walter, Ch. 7)
#4: Analyzing quantitative data (Walter, Ch. 8)
#5: The logic of sampling (Babbie, Ch. 7)
#6: Survey research (Babbie, Ch. 9)
#7: Self-administered questionnaires (Bryman, Ch. 10)
#8: Asking questions (Bryman, Ch. 11)

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 #9: Structured observation (Bryman, Ch. 12)
#10: Using existing data (Bryman, Ch. 14)
#11: Quantitative data analysis (Bryman, Ch. 15)
#12: Quantitative data analysis (Babbie, Ch. 14)
#13: Quantitative analysis (Porta and Keating, Ch. 13)

WEEK SEVEN
Mid-semester Quiz

In class, during regular lecture time.

WEEK EIGHT
Mid-semester Break

No classes or tutorials.

WEEK NINE
Lecture: Qualitative Research (1)
Tutorial 6 of 8: Research Paper Checklist

Required Readings
#1: The nature of qualitative research (Bryman, Ch. 17)
#2: Interviewing in qualitative research (Bryman, Ch. 20)
#3: Framing the debate (Brady and Collier, Part A)
#4: Critiques of the quantitative template (Brady and Collier, Part B)

Recommended Readings
#1: Qualitative interviewing methods (Walter, Ch. 10)
#2: Content analysis (Walter, Ch. 11)
#3: Discourse analysis (Walter, Ch. 12)
#4: Doing evaluation research (Walter, Ch. 13)
#5: Analyzing qualitative data (Walter, Ch. 14)
#6: Sampling in qualitative research (Bryman, Ch. 18)
#7: Focus groups (Bryman, Ch. 21)
#8: Language in qualitative research (Bryman, Ch. 22)
#9: Documents as sources of data (Bryman, Ch. 23)
#10: Qualitative data analysis (Bryman, Ch. 24)
#11: Qualitative research methods (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 9)
#12: Historical research (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 10)
#13: Analyzing qualitative data (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 11)
#14: Case studies and process tracing (Porta and Keating, Ch. 12)

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WEEK TEN
Lecture: Qualitative Research (2)
Tutorial 7 of 8: Ethnography

Required Readings
#1: Ethnography and participant observation (Bryman, Ch. 19)
#2: Bivariate hypothesis testing (Kellstedt and Whitten, Ch. 7)
#3: Linking the quantitative and qualitative traditions (Brady and Collier, Part C)

Recommended Readings
#1: Ethnography (Walter, Ch. 15)
#2: Qualitative field research (Babbie, Ch. 10)
#3: Qualitative data analysis (Babbie, Ch. 13)
#4: Ethnographic approaches (Porta and Keating, Ch. 15)
#5: Thick description (Geertz, Ch. 1)
#6: Deep Play: notes on the Balinese cockfight (Geertz, Ch. 15)
#7: Ethnographic research (Klotz and Prakash, Ch. 7)

WEEK ELEVEN
Lecture: Experimental Designs
Tutorial 8 of 8: Experimental Designs

Required Readings
#1: Experimental, quasi-exp., and ex-post facto designs (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 7)
#2: Diverse tools, shared standards (Brady and Collier, Part D)

Recommended Readings
#1: Experiments (Babbie, Ch. 8)
#2: Morton and Williams (2010)

WEEK TWELVE
Lecture: Mixed-Methods Research

Required Readings
#1: Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide (Bryman, Ch. 26)
#2: Combining quantitative and qualitative research (Bryman, Ch. 27)
#3: Qualitative tools for causal inference (Brady and Collier, Part F)

Recommended Readings
#1: Mixed-methods designs (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 12)
#2: Comparing approaches, methodologies and methods (Porta and Keating, Ch. 16)

WEEK THIRTEEN
Lecture: Writing a Research Proposal

Required Readings
#1: Planning your research project (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 4)
#2: Writing the research proposal (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 5)
#3: Writing up social research (Bryman, Ch. 28)

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 Recommended Readings
#1: Planning your research project (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 4)
#2: Writing the research proposal (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 5)
#3: Planning and preparing a final research report (Leedy & Ormrod, Ch. 13)
#4: Research: writing through, writing up (Walter, Ch. 16)
#5: Reading and writing social research (Babbie, Ch. 17)

WEEK FOURTEEN
Lecture: General Overview and Wrap-up

-- END OF SYLLABUS --

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