SUİ251

School of Economics and Administrative Sciences \ Political Science and International Relations

3

6

Compulsory

English

-

The course is compulsory for the undergraduate students in the Political Science and International Relations department. Students of other departments can take it as an elective course, if approved by the department and the students’s academic advisor.

This course introduces students to the principles, key concepts, and processes of research and inference making in political science and international relations. As political scientists, we have to offer convincing answers to various questions about political phenomena, such as “Does income play a role in party preference?” or “Does democratic governance prevent corruption?”. These political science questions may seem bland and unoriginal, however, answering them -i.e., explaining causation - is often a difficult task in our discipline, and it requires an informed theoretical inquiry and a systematic quest for empirical evidence. To this end, this class covers (1) the methodological landscape in our discipline, (2) logic of hypothesis formation and testing, (3) guidelines for reviewing a literature, (4) data collection and analysis techniques, (5) basics of academic writing and research ethics.

Main textbook: Barakso, M., Sabet, D. M., & Schaffner, B. F. (2014). Understanding Political Science Research Methods: The Challenge of Inference. New York, NY: Routledge.

Supplementary materials include additional manuals and guides such as: Laubepin, F. (2013). How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article; Powner, C. (2007). Reading and Understanding Political Science; and APA (7th Edition) Reference Style Handout.

Additionally, the methods covered in this course are examined through a selection of up-to-date research articles and book chapters. Here are the references for the selection for the Summer 2024:
Adida, C. L., Laitin, D. D., & Valfort, M. A. (2010). Identifying Barriers to Muslim Integration in France. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(52), 22384-22390.

Aytaç, S. E. (2024). Economic voting in the 2023 Turkish general election. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 1–19. (Not published in an in-print issue yet, available online first)

Doorenspleet, R., & Kopecký, P. (2008). Against the Odds: Deviant Cases of Democratization, Democratization, 15(4), 697-713.

Gwiazda, A., & Minkova, L. (2024). Gendered advocacy coalitions and the Istanbul Convention: a comparative analysis of Bulgaria and Poland. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 26(1), 31–53.

Huber, D., & Pisciotta, B. (2023). From Democracy to Hybrid regime. Democratic backsliding and populism in Hungary and Tunisia. Contemporary Politics, 29(3), 357–378.

Treisman, D. (2000). The Causes of Corruption: a cross-national study. Journal of Public Economics, 76(3), 399–457.

Wang, Y. (2019). China’s State Development in Comparative Historical Perspective. APSA-CP Newsletter, 29(2), 50-57.

Starting with the basics of scientific inference-making and question-driven research, the course seeks to familiarize students with the essential tools, frameworks, and terminology necessary for conducting rigorous political science research. This foundational knowledge will empower students to critically evaluate existing research, formulate their own research questions and hypotheses, and engage meaningfully in scholarly discussions within the field. In addition to the teaching of the fundamental principles of research methodology and methodological avenues -varying from experiments to qualitative small-N research - the course will also emphasize practical applications through a hands-on research design project assignment. This assignment designed as a collaborative exercise will reinforce theoretical concepts while fostering teamwork and communication skills among their peers and their instructor.

1. Students will be able to read scholarly research and academic contributions of the national and global research community in the discipline.
2. Students will grasp and use the terminology of the variable-oriented research in social sciences. They will be able to communicate with their peers and convey their theoretically-informed arguments and ideas.
3. Adhering to the ethical principles and scientific standards of inference-making in political science and international relations, students will be able to design and join research projects.
4. Students will develop the skills to formulate ‘good research’ questions, construct testable hypotheses, conduct problem-driven literature reviews, select appropriate data collection and analysis techniques for empirical evidence.

Week 1: Introduction: Empirical knowledge and inference in political science
Week 2: Components of Inference, Key Concepts, and Challenges
Week 3: Research Question – It all begins by asking good questions
Week 4: Theory – Why are theories indispensable for scientific research?
Week 5: How to read academic research and do a literature review
Week 6: From questions to answers: Getting in touch with data
Week 7: Basics of research design
Week 8: Experiments
Week 9: Large-N Observational Studies: Introduction to quantitative methods for causal inference
Week 10: Discussion and feedbacks on the research design projects
Week 11: Small-n Observational Studies (1) – Comparative designs
Week 12: Small-n Observational Studies (2) – Single-case designs and data collection in small-n research

• Midterm 30 %
• Final 40 %
• Term Paper (Research Design Assignment) 25 %
• Participation 5 %