Research Methods I (SPS 311)

2020 Fall
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Social & Political Sci.(SPS)
3
6/7 ECTS (for students admitted in the 2013-14 Academic Year or following years)
Özge Kemahlıoğlu ozgekemah@sabanciuniv.edu,
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English
Undergraduate
SPS101 SPS102
Formal lecture,Interactive lecture
Interactive,Communicative,Project based learning
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CONTENT

Statistical reasoning and techniques used by social researchers to summarize data and test hypotheses. Topics include describing data collection, sampling measurement, distributions, cross-tabulations, scaling, probability,correlation/regression and non-parametric tests.

OBJECTIVE

This course is designed as an initiation into social science research. As an introduction we focus on questions like: why bother with scientific thinking? What differentiates scientific thinking from its competitors? Where do concepts and theories come from? What is a variable and how do we make sure that it accomplishes the tasks we hope that it would accomplish? How does one go about finding a research topic and designing an inquiry and actually conducting the research and presenting its findings? From the initial steps of formulating a question, designing a convincing way to answer it and then moving into measurement one gets ready to prepare a description of the state of affairs and/or testing a hypothesis by inferential means. We accordingly cover the basic descriptive and inferential statistics as a means for analyzing data.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • On completion of the module, students should be able to a) Formulate research questions and hypotheses. b) Collect, use and analyze data for a specific research project. c) Apply some social science methods in actual research as well as understanding and criticizing the methods used in other studies. d) Identify a solid research design. e) Describe what is meant by a research design, research question, hypothesis, measurement and literature review. f) Identify various research methods and approaches. g) Develop skills to use qualitative and quantitative methods h) Formulate a research design i) Develop a critical approach in evaluating methodology

ASSESSMENT METHODS and CRITERIA

  Percentage (%)
Final 35
Midterm 25
Quiz 10
Term-Paper 20
Participation 10

RECOMENDED or REQUIRED READINGS

Textbook

W. Lawrence Neuman, 2006 (6th edition). Social Research Methods, Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Pearson Education Inc.

Readings

Geddes, Barbara, 1991, A Game Theoretic Model of Reform in Latin American Democracies, American Political Science Review, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 371-392.
Kellstedt, Paul M. and Guy D. Whitten. 2009. The Fundamentals of Political Science Research. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2.
Fiorina, Morris P. 1975. Formal Models in Political Science. American Journal of Political Science. 19(1): 133-59.
Munck, Gerardo L. And Jay Verkuilen. 2002. Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy, Evaluating Alternative Indices, Comparative Political Studies, 35 (1)
Geddes, Barbara. 1990. How The Cases You Choose Affect The Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics. Political Analysis. 2(1): 131-50.
Marx, Anthony W. 1996. ?Race-Making and the Nation-State? World Politics, 48.2, 180-208.
Auyero, Javier. 2001. Poor Peoples Politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita. Duke University Press. Introduction and Conclusions.
Levitsky, Steven. 2003. Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1.
Wantchekon, Leonard. 2003. Clientelism and voting behavior: Evidence from a field experiment in Benin. World Politics, 55, 399-422
Çarkoğlu, Ali. 2008. Ideology or Economic Pragmatism: Profiling Turkish Voters in 2007, Turkish Studies 9:2 (June): 317-344.
Kemahlioglu, Ozge. 2009. ?Particularistic Distribution of Investment Subsidies under Coalition Governments: The Case of Turkey? Comparative Politics. Vol. 40, Number 2.
Johnson, Janet Buttolph and H.T. Reynolds. 2008. Political Science Research Methods. CQ Press. Chapter 11-13