This approach will also facilitate student understanding regarding the role of Congress in the institutional system of democratic governance. Our focus will include issues of institutional design, the history of change, the linkage between legislative structure and electoral forces, the committee system, legislative procedures, the impact of various institutional structures on the passage of public policy, and the interaction between the House, Senate, and Presidency. This course introduces students to the scientific study of politics. The course emphasis provides students with the conceptual and statistical tools to assess and produce empirical-based research. The goal is for students to learn the theory, design, and application of methodological analysis.
Students also learn how to address practical problems of conducting research.
In particular, this includes the analysis and presentation of data from computer applications. This is the last of a three-course sequence for graduate students in the methodological techniques used in public policy analysis. The primary aim of this course is to provide students with the theoretical and applied skills to produce sound quantitative research in Political Science. In the first few weeks, special attention will be given to the classical OLS assumption violations and how these relate to statistical estimation and inference. Students will also be introduced to matrix algebra and calculus.