Political Methodology
Field of Study for the PhD: Political Methodology
Political methodology is the study and development of quantitative techniques, and the recommendation of best practices, for the empirical analysis of political phenomena using tools from statistics, econometrics, and machine learning.
Political Methodology at Rochester
The political methodology field at Rochester is designed to equip students with needed tools for applied research in substantive fields, and also to train students who want to pursue research in pure methods at the highest level. All students take a two-course sequence in their first year to impart a common set of tools, including linear regression and causal inference; subsequent graduate seminars train students in advanced topics of experimental methods, maximum likelihood estimation, machine learning, ideal point estimation, non-parametric estimation, and structural estimation. An emphasis is placed on understanding regularities observed in the data: once an effect is identified or a correlation is measured, the next step is to understand the underlying mechanism, and to discern it from other possible mechanisms. For the major field, a student must complete the two-course first-year sequence and two additional courses from the advanced graduate seminars in political methodology, passing these four courses with an average GPA of 3.5 and no grade lower than a B-. For the minor field, a student must complete the first-year sequence and one additional course from the advanced graduate seminars, passing each course with a B- or better.
Statistical Methods Sequence: 404 and 405
The PhD program includes two semesters of statistical methods taken by all graduate students. The year-long sequence is a self-contained course in statistical methods. In PSC 404, students learn the elements of probability theory, hypothesis testing, and linear statistical models. The second course in the sequence, PSC 405, covers causal inference and surrounding topics of identification, matching, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, etc. With the tools developed in the sequence, students are prepared to read the empirical literature and conduct research at an adequate level of proficiency. More advanced methods are acquired in graduate seminars taken in the second year of the program and beyond.
Seminars
- PSCI 505: Quantitative Methods 3
- PSCI 506: Advanced Topics in Methods
- PSCI 507: Experiments in Political Science Research
- PSCI 512: Survey Methods
- PSCI 587: Structural Modeling and Estimation