Designed to introduce beginning students to political science.
Focus will be on the study of politics, including theoretical
perspectives, substantive areas, and issues in designing
political research.
Athena Title
Intro to Political Science
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in POLS 2000H
Prerequisite
POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be familiar with leading scholarship in political science, including theories and substantive areas of inquiry.
Students will be able to describe how the scientific method is applied to the study of politics.
Students will have been introduced to the empirical tools of social science through political science research applications.
Students will be prepared for upper division courses in political science.
Students will be able to analyze current political phenomena with tools used by political scientists.
Students will be able to understand and critically evaluate existing scholarly research in the discipline.
Topical Outline
Part 1. Introduction & Overview
Overview of theoretical perspectives utilized in political science
Overview of substantive areas of research in political science
Introduction to research questions and the process of social science research
How to conceptualize/formulate testable hypotheses
Part 2. Empirical Research
Moving from conceptualization to measurement
Introduction to the "idea" of probability sampling
Issues in measurement
General overview of "methods" of collecting observations: experiments, surveys, field research, and content analysis
Part 3. Addressing Research Questions
The nature of causation--how to draw conclusions about causal relationships
Introduction to data analysis (nothing beyond cross tabs)
How to access secondary data sources and use the library
How to write up results
