Government 702

Research in American Politics

Clyde Wilcox Spring, 2005

Department of Government 202-687-5273; fax=5858

Georgetown University wilcoxc@georgetown.edu

www.georgetown.edu/wilcox

This course will focus on the research process. Each student is expected to do readings and attend class prepared to discuss readings. In addition, each student will prepare a paper that is suitable for presentation at a professional conference, and/or submission to a professional journal.

We will explore the research process in two ways. The first few weeks of the course will include sessions on the research process. This segment will include professional socialization, including discussion of how to propose a paper for a conference, how to present papers at conferences, and how to submit and publish papers in journals. We will also discuss the stages of the research process, from the theory to final product.

The second part of the course will involve a collaborative research project, and guest lectures by faculty on their research experiences.

The major class paper will be an opportunity to conduct research with feedback at each of the steps. For this reason, it is important that students keep to the following schedule, and finish the paper by the end of the term. The schedule is as follows:

Jan 25: 3 ideas for the paper, along with ideas for data.

Feb 15: narrow to one idea, rough outline of paper. List of 3-4 important previous studies that are relevant.

March 15: some data analysis for your paper (if appropriate), data for collaborative project.

April 12: rough draft of paper completed.

April 26: paper finished, short presentation in class.

May 3: Revised papers due

Grading: Your final grade will be based on the following

Course paper 60%

Class participation 20%

Joint project participation 20%

Note that the profession does have real deadlines, so in this class I will penalize late papers.

Part I

Week Topic

Jan 18 Introduction to the course

Jan 25 Where do ideas come from? How to refine a research question

Kritzer, “The Data Puzzle: The Nature of Interpretation in Quantitative Research.” American Journal of Political Science 40: 1-32.

King, Keohane, and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry Chapter 1

Shively, The Research Process Ch 1,2,6

Examine Presidential Donor Survey, http://www.georgetown.edu/wilcox/gopsurvey.pdf ; http://www.georgetown.edu/wilcox/dempage.pdf

Ono and Wilcox “Sidney Verba's Voice” Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 2003. In Italian. (Translated version will be e-mailed).

Feb 1 Identifying existing data sources

Students are to browse the ICPSR holdings at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/

Also look at the Roper holdings at http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/

Browse government archives such as www.fec.gov

Interest group collections such as http://www.vote-smart.org/ or http://www.opensecrets.org/

Identify another unique source of existing data.

Feb 8 Collecting your own data

Clifford Brown, Lynda Powell, and Clyde Wilcox, Serious Money Ch 1, Appendix I, II

Pamela Conover, Ivor Crewe, and Donald Searling. 1991. “The Nature of Citizenship in the United States and Great Britain: Empirical Comments on

Theoretical Themes.” Journal of Politics 53: 800-832.

Carol Maxwell, Pro-Life Activism in America, Ch 1, 8

Forrest Maltzman and Eric Lawrence, “Why did Speaker Henderson Resign? (http://www.georgetown.edu/wilcox/HENDERSON.PDF).

Carin Larson, David Madland, and Clyde Wilcox, “Religious Lobbying in Virginia: How Institutions Can Quiet Prophetic Voices.” (http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/wilcoxc//VirginiaRelAct.8_21..pdf )

Feb 15 Discussion of paper topics, outlines. Discussion of joint project (review presidential donor survey)

Feb 22 Mark Rom – Interstate Competition in K-12 Education Policy: A Race to the Top? (with Rick Bailey) (paper will be e-mailed to students)

March 1 Conferences, journals, and publishing

A list of conferences in political science, http://www.apsanet.org/ps/conferences/index.cfm

Journal citation impact scores http://www.appam.org/services/jpam/PoliSciJournalsSurvey.pdf

Journal citation prestige and impact http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v10p265y1987.pdf

Feb 22 Mark Rom – Interstate Competition in K-12 Education Policy: A Race to the Top? (with Rick Bailey) (paper will be e-mailed to students)

March 8 (spring break)

March 15 Steve Wayne, in-depth interviews in political science

March 22 Data for individual papers and collaborative project

March 29 Collaborative project

April 5 Mike Hanmer, research topic to be announced

April 12 Rough draft of paper due, collaborative project

April 19 Collaborative project

April 26 702 Conference, paper presentations