Course Syllabus: PPOL-G 630 Research Methods I

This course offers an introduction to research methods and design primarily from a social science perspective. The primary objective is to improve students’ ability to become better producers and consumers of public policy research by providing an introduction to an array of methodological issues and approaches to policy research. Within a social science framework, our discussions will include topics like: How do we find/develop research questions and testable hypotheses? What is the nature of “explanation” – or how do we know if we’ve found the “answer” to our research question/problem? What determines the method we choose to collect data to address our research questions? Is more than one methodological approach (mixed methods) necessary or advisable? We will also answer the applied research question, given a social-scientific view of institutions and phenomena, how can we generate specific actions to meet defined goals or objectives