Reading Schedule
Readings in the table are
identified by author—see the bibliography, below, for complete
citations.
|
Sept. 6. Introduction,
syllabus. Political Science as a
Science. |
Sept 8. Read Hoover,
Preface & Chapter 1, “Thinking Scientifically.” Read Althaus and Shapiro. Argumentation Exercise 1.
Introduction to
Diagramming Arguments. |
|
Sept. 13. Causal Relationships. Diagramming Arguments 1.
Find Sources Exercise 1. |
Sept. 15. Read Hoover,
Chapter 2, “The Elements of Science.” Read Gilens, identify the concepts, variables and hypotheses. |
|
Sept. 20. More concepts,
variables, and hypotheses. Read Nexon,
discuss validity and reliability issues. Diagramming Arguments 2. Diagram the model developed in King
& Smith. Find Sources Exercise 2. |
Sept. 22. Read Hoover,
Chapter 3, “Strategies.” Read Miller
(follow reading guidelines announced in class). Identify the falsifiable statements. Is the way the authors operationalize their main idea consistent with the way you assess
presidential candidates? Read Highton
and describe his model of comparison.
Also, Bring
two possible paper topics to class.
|
|
Sept. 27. Paper Topics
Workshop. Read Stevenson (marriage—an econ
perspective), and Hook (state dept—hist/pol
perspective). Prepare for Find Sources Exercise 3. |
Sept. 29. Find Sources
Exercise 3. |
|
Oct. 4. Read Hoover,
Chapter 4, “Refinements,” and Appendix A, Putnam; and Andolini. (Note: make sense of the data tables
in chapter 4!) Prepare for Find Sources
Exercise 4. |
Oct. 6. Find Sources
Exercise 4. |
|
Oct. 11. Applying the
material to your paper projects.
Prepare for Find Sources Exercise 5.
|
Oct. 13. Find Sources
Exercise 5. |
|
Oct. 18. Argumentation
Exercise 2. Preparation for Argumentation
Exercise 3. |
Oct. 20. Argumentation
Exercise 3. |
|
Oct. 25. More making
sense of tabular and graphic presentations. Read Stevenson (Happiness) and Clinton. |
Oct. 27. Same topic. Read Hoover, Chapter 5, “Measuring Variables and
Relationships.” Also read White, and Bartels. Identify the parts of the articles
that are the subject of Hoover’s chapter. |
|
Nov. 1. Same topic,
continued. Read Milanovic
and Smyth. Prepare for Find Sources Exercise 6. |
Nov. 3. Find Sources
Exercise 6. Prepare for Meehan. |
|
Nov. 8. Read Meehan. Exercises in applying the approach. |
Nov. 10. Read Pollack,
Matthews, and Podhoretz. Prepare for policy paper exercise. |
|
Nov. 15. Do policy paper
exercise. |
Nov. 17. People Do
Research. Read Hoover, Chapter 6, “Relections: Back to the Roots;” also read Marx. |
|
Nov. 22. Paper
consulting day. |
Nov. 14. Thanksgiving
Holiday. |
|
Nov. 29.
Applications. |
Dec. 1.
Applications. |
|
Dec. 6. Discussion of
Papers. |
Dec. 8. Discussion of
Papers. |
Final Examination
Period: Thursday, December 15,
1-2:50.
required text
Kenneth R. Hoover and Todd
Donovan, The
Elements Of Social Scientific Thinking (Wadsworth, 2007), 9th ed.
Lester Faigley,
The Brief
Penguin Handbook (NY: Longman, 2003).
Other editions are OK, too, but I like The One With The “Plastic Comb”
Binding. You can get it used.
other assigned readings
Scott L. Althaus
and Devon M. Largio, “When Osama Became Saddam:
Origins and Consequences of the Change in America’s Public Enemy #1,” PS: Political
Science & Politics October 2004.
Molly W. Andolina,
et.al., “Habits from Home, Lessons from School:
Influences on Youth Civic Engagement,” PS: Political Science & Politics April
2003, pp. 275-80.
Larry M. Bartels, “Homer Gets
a Tax Cut: Inequality and Public Policy in the American Mind,” Perspectives on
Politics 3 (March 2005) 1: 15-31.
Joshua D. Clinton, et.al., ““The Most Liberal Senator”? Analyzing and
Interpreting Congressional Roll Calls,” PS: Political Science & Politics October
2004, pp. 805-11.
Martin Gilens,
“Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness,” Public Opinion Quarterly 69 (Special Issue
2005) No. 5: 778-796.
Benjamin Highton,
“Long Lines, Voting Machine Availability, and Turnout: The Case of Franklin
County, Ohio in the 2004 Presidential Election,” PS: Political Science & Politics
January 2006, pp. 65-8.
David M.
Marx and Phillip Atiba Goff, “Clearing the air: The
effect of experimenter race on target's test performance and subjective
experience,” British
Journal of Social Psychology (2005). 44. 645-657.
Jessica T. Mathews, “The
Surge in Iraq Has Failed,” Carnegie Policy Outlook, The Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, September 2007.
E. J. Meehan, Reasoned Argument
In Social Science (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishers, 1982), pages ix-29,
124-9, 156-75, 177-203.
Branko Milanovic, “Why Did the
Poorest Countries Fail to Catch Up?”, Carnegie Papers, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, No. 62, November 2005.
Arthur H. Miller, et.al., “Schematic Assessment of Presidential Candidates,” The American
Political Science Review 80 (1986) No. 2, pp. 521-40.
Daniel H. Nexon and Thomas Wright, “What’s at Stake in the American
Empire Debate,” The
American Political Science Review 101 (May 2007) No. 2, pp. 253-71.
Norman Podhoretz, “The Case for
Bombing Iran,” Commentary
June 2007, from
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/The-Case-for-Bombing-Iran-10882.
Kenneth M. Pollack, “Next
Stop Baghdad?”, Foreign
Affairs 81 (March/April 2002) No. 2.
Robert D. Putnam, “Tuning in, Tuning Out:
The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America” (Appendix A in the
Hoover text.)
Ian
Shapiro, “Notes on the Political Psychology of Redistribution,” Social
Research Vol 73 : No 2 : Summer 2006.
D. J.
Smyth and S. W. Taylor, “Presidential popularity: what matters most,
macroeconomics or scandals?”, Applied Economics Letters, 2003, 10,
585–588.
Betsey
Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, “Marriage
and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 21
(Spring 2007) No. 2: 27–52.
Betsey
Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, “The Paradox of
Declining Female Happiness.”
Ismail K. White, “When Race
Matters and When It Doesn’t: Racial Group Differences in Response to Racial
Cues,” American
Political Science Review 101 (May 2007) 2: 339-354.