Syllabus
IN 2020/21 the course (due to the COVID situation) will be taught via ZOOM + moodle.
1) Intro a. Goals and organization of the course, assesment etc. b. Methodologies and methods – why we should care (examples)
2) Types of arguments a. Descriptive b. Causal c. Normative d. Prescriptive e. Predictive
3) Concepts and Measures a. Concepts b. Strategies of concept formation c. Measures
4) Analyses a. Internal and external validity b. Sample size and representativness c. Sampling d. Reliability and validity
5) Researching causal relationships a. Structural explanations b. Motivational explanations c. Interactive explanations d. Theory Building
6) Causal analyses a. Causality b. Causal hypotheses c. Types of causal analyses
7) Experiments a. With and without confounding b. Varieties of experiments
8) Large N observational research a. Cross-sectional design b. Time series design c. Regression discontinuity design
9) Case studies a. Case selection rules b. Within case studies c. Brief comparison with Large N studies
10) Selected problems of causal inference a. Confounders (how to deal with the problem) b. Thinking about your reseach design in advance c. Combining large N studies and qualitative studies
11) Logic of Inquiry vs. logic of presentation a. Reading and rewieving b. Data gathering c. Writing d. Speaking
12) MA thesis project - presentations TEST!
Annotation
MT I. is dedicated for students at the beginning of their master's program (GPS). It is expected that enrolled students have not yet the final idea of their master thesis. Therefore, the aim of this seminar is (i) to present some basic advice on thesis writing, general requirements etc. (ii) to introduce students to basic issues of methodology. General goals:
1) Introduce (new) students to peculiarities of thesis writing
2) Explain formal demands imposed by the IPS FSV
3) Discuss basic methodological choices
4) Present basic methods used in the discipline of political science, IR, geography, etc.
5) Help the students to prepare (tentative) outline and proposal of their master thesis.