In the first part of the course, we will focus on the theoretical side of political science. The main goals here are to understand what makes a good political science theory, and to give a brief overview of how game theory and related tools make up a powerful way to construct theories. This side of the class will be less data-focused, we will also see how the programming tools you learn in Data 8 can be used in this part of the scientific process. We will pivot to the empirical side in the second part of the class, we will cover how political scientists and other social scientists think about the challenges of causal inference, and the tools we use to overcome them.
Students must have already taken DATA8 or take it concurrently with PS 88.
Students must temporarily waitlist in order for the department to confirm completion or concurrent enrollment of Data 8.
The combination of Data 8 and PS88 can be taken in lieu of PS3 for the major.