Course Syllabus

POLS-Y 524 Syllabus

Professor: James M. Smith, Ph.D., Dept. of Political Science, Indiana University South Bend

Contact Information: DW 2179 (Office) / jms21@iu.edu (E-mail) / 574.520.4817 (Phone)

Office Hours: By Appointment, via Zoom or by Phone (Zoom Meeting Room: 574 520 4817)

Course Format: 100% Online

 

Course Description

This course teaches the skills required to analyze and design effective research in political science and public affairs. Throughout the semester students will become familiar with numerous methodological approaches to studying politics and public affairs as well as the research process in the social sciences, generally. This includes generating research questions, reviewing the scholarly literature on a topic, designing research, locating and selecting the best cases and data, and effectively organizing the final product in the form of a formal research paper.

The core readings for the class focus on concepts of research methodology as they apply to political science and public affairs. Students will also read several articles from the field that exemplify different approaches to studying politics, building skills that allow them to assess and evaluate research in the field. The major assignment for the class requires students to develop a research design/project proposal focused on a topic they are interested in pursuing. Students will write research questions, read relevant studies, write a brief literature review, make choices regarding methods and data, and propose a timeline for the potential project.

Bulletin Course Description: This course will cover the components of research design and methods from variable identification to data collection.

Course Objectives

1) Students will be familiar with key concepts relating to research design and research methods in public affairs and political science

2) Students will demonstrate an understanding of the stages of the research process

3) Students will be able to apply their knowledge of research design to review and evaluate different approaches to answering research questions in the fields of public affairs and political science

4) Students will write a research proposal that reflects familiarity with the best practices for designing research in public affairs and political science

Course Texts

Thinking Like a Political Scientist (2017), by Christopher Howard. University of Chicago Press.

(ISBN 978-0226327549).

Other course readings, or instructions on how to access them, will be posted to Canvas.

 

Assignments Categoried and Grades (575 points total)

Discussion / Participation Assignments – 75 points

Political Science / Public Affairs Scholarship Presentation – 50 points

Quizzes – 100 points

Research Proposal Project Preliminary Components – 250 points (five components)

Research Proposal / Final Project – 100 points 

Grading Scale:

A+ (98-100%); A (94-97.9%); A- (90-93.9%)      D+ (67-69.9%); D (64-66.9%); D- (60-63.9%)

B+ (87-89.9%); B (84-86.9%); B- (80-83.9%)           F (59.9% and below)

C+ (77-79.9%); C (74-76.9%); C- (70-73.9%

 

Course Guidelines

MAKING SENSE OF THE COURSE STRUCTURE—WEEKS/ELEMENTS: As an accelerated summer class, we must move quickly to cover the same material as a 15-week course. At a very basic level, think about it this way: Every week of the summer course is the equivalent of 2.5 weeks in a 15-week semester. Therefore, each week will have a few reading assignments, discussions, and a writing assignment. I have split weeks up into specific “Elements.” Reading and discussions will be located in Element 1, and most writing/research/assessment tasks will be located in Element 2.

READING: The first thing you should do each week is read. It may be tempting, especially in the online setting, to skip to the assignments and instructor videos, but you should treat these as aspects of the class that would take place in the classroom after having read for the week. So, read first, complete assignments second.

Understanding research design and research methods requires careful reading—some portions of the texts may take a few reads to fully comprehend and students should be prepared to dedicate the amount of time required to fully complete course readings. Students are also encouraged to actively underline and annotate passages in the text—this may be useful for specific assignments throughout the summer session.

WRITING: Students will write regularly for this course—weekly assignments require succinct and clear analysis / reflection. Quizzes will also require students to write open-ended short answer questions. Finally, students will complete a research proposal for the final project in the class that requires several sections requiring students to write clearly and carefully.

All written work should be formatted as follows:

·       12-point font

·       Double-spaced or 1.5 spaced

·       1-inch margins

·       Citation style: Chicago, Author-Date

- AI Note: You are not permitted to use generative artificial intelligence engines, software, or artwork programs to produce work for this class except on assignments specifically designated as such and for which you will have received significant guidance on appropriate use of such technologies. For example, I encourage you to use tools within Microsoft PowerPoint that will suggest different slide designs for a presentation.

COURSE COMMUNICATION: Please check your IU email account/Canvas messages daily throughout the summer session. If you do not use IU email as your primary account, make sure that you have all IU mail forwarded to an email account you do check daily or change your default account with IU.

LATE WORK: Turning projects/papers in late will significantly affect the grade; for each day an assignment is late, students may lose one letter grade on the project. Always let the professor know why an assignment is late so that an exception may be considered.

AMENDMENTS TO SYLLABUS: I will notify you of any changes to the practices/policies listed in this syllabus should any occur.

ACCESSIBILITY AND ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT: Every attempt will be made to accommodate qualified students with disabilities (e.g. mental health, learning, chronic health, physical hearing, vision neurological, etc.).   You must have established your eligibility for support services through the Accessible Educational Services office (Fine Arts Building, Rooms 109-114; telephone number 520-4832 or 520-4256). Once the AES office has provided you with a letter attesting to your needs for accommodations, bring the letter to your professor. Note that services are confidential, may take time to put into place and are not retroactive; captions and alternate media for print materials may take three or more weeks to get produced.  For more information, please visit the web site for the Accessible Educational Services.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: It is the responsibility of the student to know of the prohibited actions such as cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, academic, and personal misconduct, and thus, to avoid them. All students are held to the standards outlined in the code. Please reference the entire code for a complete listing (https://studentcode.iu.edu/). Any violation may result in serious academic penalty, ranging from receiving a warning, to failing the assignment, to failing the course, to expulsion from the University.

BIAS INCIDENT REPORTING: Indiana University is committed to creating welcoming, inclusive, and respectful campus communities where everyone can thrive and do their best work—a place where all are treated with civility and respect. If you experience or witness an incident of bias, you should report it.

For more information, see Student Incident Reporting.

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT AND TITLE IX: Title IX and IU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibit sexual misconduct in any form, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence.  If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.  If you are seeking help and would like to speak to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with: IU South Bend Student Counseling Center at 574-520-4125 (counseling services). Campus Health and Wellness Center at 574-520-5557 (health and medical services)

It is also important that you know that Title IX and University policy require me to share any information brought to my attention about potential sexual misconduct, with the campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator. In that event, those individuals will work to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available. Protecting student privacy is of utmost concern, and information will only be shared with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist. Visit stopsexualviolence.iu.edu. to learn more.

 

Assignment Descriptions:

Discussion / Participation Assignments (Due Weekly)

Each week students will complete assignments designed to ensure critical engagement with course concepts, readings, and classmates. In some cases, this will entail responses to discussion questions pertaining to the readings, in other Elements it might require students to watch a video relating to course themes and participate in a discussion forum, and other slight variations on this theme are possible (Note: These assignments can be found in the modules for the respective week/element. Most are due on Friday of the respective week.)

Quizzes (June 21, June 28, July 19)

On three occasions across the semester students will complete quizzes relating to the readings and course content. These quizzes will be completed in Canvas, and while they are open note/book, many questions will be designed to require students to apply knowledge in ways that require going beyond demonstrating basic familiarity with course concepts and examples. Question formats: Multiple choice, matching, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, short answer responses.

Political Science Scholarship Presentations (Week 5 or Week 6)

This assignment requires students to create and post a short presentation (6-8 minutes) focused on one article from their article list/annotated bibliography for the research proposal project with an emphasis on its methodology. Specifically, students will provide a brief overview of the article and its topic, the research method identified by the authors, the hypotheses and research questions where applicable, and the central findings of the article as identified by the authors (more specific details will appear in the Canvas assignment). Students will also provide a brief analytical conclusion answering the following questions:

    - What did you appreciate about the research design?

    - What specific problems did you find with the design?

    - If you were going to replicate this study now, what might you do?

The presentation should close with a discussion question to the class.

The purpose of this assignment is to see the concepts and approaches we read about each week “in action.” While there are several examples included in our readings, looking at entire research articles will allow us to see the ways in which political science and public affairs scholars put everything together in a final product (something students in this course will also do in the form of their research proposal for the semester).

Presentations will take place during weeks four and five of the semester after students have had the opportunity to be introduced to several key concepts relating to research design methodology. A sign-up sheet will be provided in Canvas and students should sign up for one of the two weeks by the end of week one.

·      The presentation should utilize PowerPoint or another slide-based presentation software, and students should record their presentation using Kaltura (see Canvas for instructions). Students are advised and encouraged to use AI elements of presentation design provided in Microsoft PowerPoint or their preferred presentation software.

·       To sign up for an Element/theme on which to present, please visit the Canvas Page titled Presentation Sign-Up (linked in Week 1, Element 1).

·       Students should share their presentation with Prof. Smith by Wednesday of the week for which they’ve signed up to present so that it can be posted to the rest of the class.

Research Proposal Project and Final Paper

This project, completed sequentially across the summer session, requires students to apply concepts and approaches learned in this class in a research proposal related to a topic of interest in their field. Students will develop a research question, describe the importance of their topic, compile and read academic literature on the topic they’ve selected, design a research plan for analyzing the question, identify/locate/describe appropriate data for answering the research question, and devise a timeline for carrying out the research. The final paper will compile the updated (based on instructor feedback) drafts from previous assignments while also adding an introduction and conclusion. Details for each individual step of the project will be posted in Canvas assignments.

Individual Steps and Due Dates:

• Political Puzzles Assignment (June 14)
• Research Proposal and Article List (June 21)
• Annotated Bibliography (June 28)
• Literature Review (July 12)
• Data and Method Description (July 19)
• Final Research Proposal (July 31)

Note: This syllabus is the intellectual property of the instructor and may not be reproduced or used without written permission.