Political Science is rapidly becoming a discipline where advanced training and experience with multiple research methods is becoming de rigueur. All graduate students are required to take the two-course sequence of introductory courses, Research Design and Multivariable Techniques, where they are exposed to important epistemological and research design issues, and a variety of formal, qualitative, and statistical methods. Students in all subfields are strongly encouraged to seek as many methods trainings as possible, and as described above, several fields have methods requirements beyond the introductory sequence for their majors. Students at Rutgers also may declare Research Methodology as one of their minor fields.
To receive a first or second minor in methodology, the student must complete the following requirements:
Pre-requisites:
16:790:600 Research Design
16:790:670 Multivariable Techniques
All students are required to take three additional methods courses, which must be more advanced than the prerequisites above.
The field of methodology is broadly construed, and the three courses may include courses in any methodological specialty, including but not limited to statistical methods, formal methods, experimental methods, qualitative and case study methods, and interpretive methods. Courses taken outside of Rutgers’ Political Science Department (in other RU departments or at other universities) may be counted toward the minor, subject to approval in writing by the Methodology field chair.
In general, mere attendance at ICPSR or IQMR does not count as coursework toward the Methodology minor, although those workshops may be combined with a 3-credit independent study with a methods faculty member to be counted toward the minor.
Methods Faculty
Michael Kenwick
Richard Lau
Beth Leech
Katherine McCabe
Jana Morgan
Andrey Tomashevskiy
CURRICULUM
Comprehensive exam
To complete a second minor in Methods, only the coursework is required. For a first minor, both the coursework and a comprehensive exam are required. The comprehensive exam for a minor in Methodology requires that students write a methodological paper. In that paper, students should (1) identify a methodological debate within the literature (e.g. proper approach for analyzing time series data; proper approach for analyzing a text; proper approach for engaging in counterfactual analysis; proper approaches for avoiding framing effects; proper approaches for creating a sample; etc.), (2) choose a methodology and explain the reasons for choosing that methodological approach over other alternative approaches; and (3) utilize a cutting-edge methodology and discuss the resulting evidence. The final paper that comprises the exam must be uploaded to the Graduate Program Canvas site on the same day that other qualifying exams have been scheduled. The deadline that exists for other comprehensive exams must be met. The proposed focus of a student’s methods minor must be approved, in advance, by the Methods field chair. Students should not begin work on their papers unless they have the approval of the field chair. Once the proposal is approved, students are strongly encouraged to consult with relevant methods faculty about their paper and the approach they are taking.
The Methods field chair and two other faculty members named by the field chair will serve as the reading committee for the exam.
Important note:
Students who wish to pursue a first minor in Methods are required to take a standard substantive subfield (American, Comparative, IR, Public Law, Race and Ethnic Politics, Theory, or Women & Politics) for their second minor.
Required Courses
16:79:600 Research Design in Political Science
A general introduction to research methods in political science, including research design, the philosophy of science, and qualitative methods.
16:790:670 Multivariable Techniques
The primary focus of this class is multivariate regression. Several additional multivariate methods are covered more briefly, including factor analysis, causal modeling, analysis of variance, scaling, and various limited dependent variable methods.
Electives
16:790:671 Survey Research
16:790:673 Game Theory for Political Scientists
16:790:676 Experimental Methods
16:790:677 Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE)
16:790: Measurement
16: 790: Mixed Methods and Field Research
Comprehensive Exams
Students may complete a minor exam in Research Methodology. The exam requires students to write a methodological paper, which is due at 5 PM on the Friday of the department’s week of comprehensive exams. It is the only exam that is not written in-person over a single exam day.
Written Exams: In the methodological paper, students should do the following: (1) Identify a current methodological debate or problem within the political science literature. The topic should relate to fundamental issues in the application of political methodologies including but not limited to: causal inference, causal complexity, conceptualization, sampling, measurement, data collection. The topic should emphasize methodology (rather than epistemology) and build upon themes established in the Department’s course offerings in political methodology.
(2) Identify and justify the use of a methodology whose use might make headway in that problem or debate, broadly or within a specific content domain. The methodology must be cutting edge or genuinely innovative in its approach; that is, not commonly used or understood in the discipline. The choice of methodology must be fully explained and appropriate, including the discussion of the assumptions and technical details underlying the method. The exam must explain the reasons for this choice over alternatives.
(3) Demonstrate technical expertise in the application of the chosen method in a way that makes a contribution to the methodological problem or debate you have chosen. Note that the simple application of a method is insufficient to demonstrate expertise. This entails comprehensive analyses, the correct interpretation of results, and a consideration of the limitations of your approach. In most applications, your choice of method should be compared and validated against alternative approaches and reflect best practices in your field of study. Exams should demonstrate the potential to teach methodology classes in the future and engage with methodology in a substantive way in future work.
The resulting paper should not exceed 10,000 words in length, including notes and references, but can be accompanied by a well-formatted technical appendix. The paper should be roughly divided into three parts, each corresponding to one of the points above. Discussions of substantive issues in political science should be limited to the relevance of the chosen methodologies.
The exam must also meet standards for transparency and replication within the field of political methodology, meaning that all quantitative analysis must be coupled with materials which, to the extent possible, allows others to fully and easily reproduce the analysis in the main text. Exams using qualitative analysis must include a methodological Appendix, which details the data sources and their utilizations, including, but not limited to, archival sources, interview or focus group protocols, ethnographic or participant observations, experiences, etc.
The proposed focus of a student’s methods minor must be approved, in advance, by the Methods field chair, under the advisement of the methods faculty. Students should not begin work on their papers beforehand. Once the proposal is approved, students are strongly encouraged to consult with relevant methods faculty about their paper and the approach they are taking but, generally speaking, faculty will not read full drafts of the paper or replication materials prior to the submission.
When an exam does not pass, in most cases, students will be expected to submit a paper during the next exam period for evaluation. In limited cases where an exam does not pass, when minor, but non-trivial issues are identified in the initial exam, students will be given the option of re-submitting the exam no later than 14 days after they have received the committee's decision, after which point the grading committee will re-evaluate the file.
Students who use artificial intelligence (AI) programs while completing the exam must include a disclosure which outlines the ways in which AI was used. While students may use AI in various coding tasks (debugging code, translating across software languages), they may not use AI to interpret results or write any component of their exam.
Oral Exams: No oral exam is required to complete the minor in Research Methodology.