You must come to each class having done the reading and having thought about the critical questions raised in the reading. I will expect you to discuss this material from an informed perspective. I do not impose this requirement to be punitive but rather because learning in a course like this is definitely cumulative. You will fall hopelessly behind if you do not keep up. Plan way ahead for this course.
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Your major output for this course will be a research paper in which you demonstrate your skill in using quantitative methods. Your paper must present an interesting question for analysis, describe a research design appropriate to answer the question, explain the data used in your analysis and why it is appropriate, analyze the data in order to answer the question, and discuss your results. This is clearly a course in which the instructor must keep the pace of the course in sync with what the students are absorbing. Thus, the schedule below is tentative. At the end of each week, I will give you the next deadlines for laboratory assignments.