Time Schedule:
Mark C Long
PB AF 599
Seattle Campus
Study and analysis of special topics in public affairs. Topics vary each quarter depending on curricular needs and interests of students and faculty.
Class description
This course builds on and provides a means to integrate methodological aspects of the core curriculum and to develop capacity to undertake independent research. Students will read, critique, and replicate portions of selected empirical papers from a range of scholarly areas that contribute to this Ph.D. Program, such as Sociology, Political Science, Management, Economics, and Risk Analysis. The exercises will be selected to provide opportunities to deal in depth with issues of research design, data limitations, measurement of key concepts, model specification, and interpretation.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Soc 505 and 506 or equivalent.
Class assignments and grading
We will be covering 5 major topics (see schedule below), with 2 weeks devoted to each topic. During each two week period, we will have one assignment. You will be assigned to replicate and extend the results from an assigned article. The data for these assignments will be provided. More details on the requirements for each individual assignment will be provided when the assignments are passed out. The course grade will be based on these five assignments with equal weights (i.e., 20%) placed on each assignment. You are allowed to work on these assignments collaboratively, although I will expect each student to turn in a separate assignment, and will expect each student's work to vary from their collaborators work.
In addition, we will be reading several articles each week related to that week's theme. Students are expected to have read these articles before class and be prepared to discuss each article critically.
