Graduate

This graduate seminar introduces students to the rapidly evolving field of qualitative and multimethod research. The seminar is designed to provide students with an overview of qualitative methods essential to political science research. In addition, we will consider a range of ways in which qualitative methods can be integrated with each other, as well as other research methodologies, such as field and natural experiments, formal models, and statistical modeling. Required readings cover classic texts, recent innovations, and applied examples.

Note that this means there is a lot of reading! Students are expected to become familiar with both the methodological ideas and their substantive application.

The overriding goal of the course is to provide students with the background necessary to use qualitative and multimethod techniques in their own original research. It will enable students to master core tools, understand basic problems, and explore advanced topics. Students should ultimately be able to apply these methods in writing a dissertation prospectus, grant proposal, or research paper.

Dissertation Writing Workshop for students in all empirical subfields.   Students working on all phases of their dissertations, from prospectus to post field work writing and post-research article preparation, are welcome.

A weekly seminar on contemporary approaches to political theory.

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This seminar provides an introduction to the major debates in comparative political economy. Although the empirical focus is on the affluent democracies, many of the debates and issues analyzed have implications for other regions. The course is divided into two main parts. The first part examines leading theoretical perspectives on political economy, such as Friedman, Marx, Weber, and Polanyi. The second part of the course is more topical. It probes a number of examples of economic development, crisis, and change, with an eye to assessing alternative theoretical perspectives.

Although the goal of most social science research is to benefit society, academia does not always train students in the ‘nuts and bolts’ mechanics of applying rigorous social science methods to solve practical policy problems or how to ensure that applied research can also produce publishable results. In this course, we focus on how to do policy-focused research that answers questions of both theoretical and substantive importance, with an emphasis on work that involves direct collaboration with an organization, agency, or firm.

This course is designed for students who have an interest in conducting collaborative applied research for the public good, both within and outside academia. Examples of the topics we will discuss include: finding an implementation partner and negotiating a relationship, data use agreements and working with messy data, designing and implementing a field experiment, ethics and equity in collaborative research, and disseminating results to partners, academics, policymakers, and the general public.

This course is designed as a hands-on workshop. Students will be expected to work through a series of assignments aimed at developing their own collaborative research project on a topic of interest. Each week, we will have a short lecture/discussion and then will engage in project work. It is useful (though not required) if you have an idea for a potential project to work on throughout the semester. However, you do not need to have a partnership established for the project; the work you do during the semester can also be focused on a hypothetical project for which you could imagine approaching a potential partner in your future work. 

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Why do political cleavages often divide along lines of race and ethnicity? Does human psychology tend towards ‘groupism’? How do government institutions like schools, police and elections increase or decrease the salience of various ethnic and religious boundaries? This course investigates the relationship between identity, groups and politics in the U.S. and around the world. We will consider theories of group identity development; assess empirical approaches to the study of racial and ethnic groups in politics; evaluate intersections of salient identities and look at how politically relevant aspects of identity can be measured for conducting original research.

This course is a  seminar which can be taken for 0 - 2 units, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory with the following course description:

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress by graduate students. To receive credit for the course, the student will participate fully, including, as asked, either making a presentation of work in progress or serving as lead  discussant for another student's work. Appropriate works-in-progress include  (but are not limited to) a paper in preparation for submission to a journal, a dissertation prospectus (including early drafts), a dissertation chapter, or a job market paper. Anyone working on theory is welcome.

https://polisci.berkeley.edu/research-and-teaching/lectures-colloquia/political-theory-workshop