DIPL 6310 Research Methods for Policy Analysis

This class is intended to accomplish two goals. First, this is a class for you to develop tools to pose questions and answer them in a social scientific fashion. Second, as this class is an essential prerequisite to DIPL 6311, you will finish this class having developed a template for your master’s research project. To accomplish this first goal, we will spend the bulk of class time on understanding both qualitative and quantitative research. The second goal is one of application, as you will use insights picked up throughout the class to produce a research design of your own for use in DIPL 6311. It is worth stressing that this class will be daunting. I will work at a pace faster than other sections, and I will cover more material. You may find this material a challenge. This is not because the material is impossible, but rather because it involves thinking in new and unaccustomed ways. The second part of the course involves a great deal of math, which many of us have avoided