Week 3

Purpose

The purpose of this video lecture is to explain Natural Experiments in terms of definitions, methods, and applciations.

Meet the Guest Speaker

Thad Dunning, Ph.D.

Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Dunning is Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley and directs the Center on the Politics of Development. He received a Ph.D. in political science and an M.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley (2006). Before returning to Berkeley, he was Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

He studies comparative politics, political economy, and research methods. His current work on ethnic and other cleavages draws on field and natural experiments and qualitative fieldwork in Latin America, India, and Africa. Dunning has written on a range of methodological topics, including causal inference, multi-method research, and cumulative learning. He chaired the inaugural project of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) group’s Metaketa Initiative, which aims to achieve greater cumulation of findings from experimental research on international development, political accountability, and related topics.

Video Lecture

The video lecture is broken into three parts:

Please click each tab to watch each part of the video lecture.

What is a Natural Experiment?
How Can Researchers Find Natural Experiments?
How to Analyze Natural Experiments?

What is a Natural Experiment?

How Can Researchers Find Natural Experiments?

How to Analyze Natural Experiments?

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