Checking date: 05/05/2020


Course: 2019/2020

Experiments in political behaviour
(17747)
Master in Political and Electoral Analysis (Plan: 385 - Estudio: 344)
EPC


Coordinating teacher: GARCIA ALBACETE, GEMA MARIA

Department assigned to the subject: Social Sciences Department

Type: Compulsory
ECTS Credits: 3.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:




Objectives
CB6: Acquire and understand knowledge that offers a base or opportunity to be original in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context CB7: Students can apply the knowledge acquired and able to solve problems in new or less known contexts related to the area of study CB8: That students are able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments CB10: That students have the learning skills that allow them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous. CG1: Ability to plan and carry out autonomously research in the field of public opinion or political behavior. CG2: Ability to interpret and integrate information from the political and social environment in order to be able to effectively analyze a situation with incomplete information. CG3: Ability to apply the specialized theoretical and methodological knowledge from the discipline to the current political and social phenomena in a practical way. CG4: Mastery of the necessary tools for obtaining data and empirical information, especially of a quantitative nature, the evaluation of its validity and relevance, and its effective use in political analysis. CG5: Ability to adequately convey in the analyzes the inherent uncertainty of political and social phenomena CE1: Be able to develop and evaluate research designs to analyze political behavior. CE2: Ability to understand and analyze in a rigorous way survey data in the field of political behavior. LEARNING RESULTS 1. Ability to compare survey and experimental methodologies and to inform about the potential or limitations of different designs. 2. Evaluation of survey and experimental designs and understanding of the different types of surveys and experiments. 3. Ability to design and carry out a survey or experiment. 5. Ability to analyze the results of an experiment.
Description of contents: programme
Experiments and political behavior (code 1.2): 1. The experimental logic. Observational research designs. The framework of potential results. History of the experiments in the political field. General introduction to experimental design. 2. The design of experiments. Internal and external validity. Types of designs Main decisions. Field, laboratory and survey experiments. Sample size and statistical power analysis. 3. The analysis of the experimental data. Most common analysis problems.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination 0
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 100

Basic Bibliography
  • Druckman, James N., Donald P. Green, James H. Kulinski and Arthur Lupia. Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science. Cambridge University Press. 2011
  • Morton, Rebecca B. and Kenneth C. Williams. Experimental Political Science and the Study of Causality: From Nature to the Lab. Cambridge University Press. 2010

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.