College Bulletin 2026-2027 
    
    Oct 08, 2026  
College Bulletin 2026-2027

POLS 038. Designing and Doing Political Science Research (IR) (CP) (AP)


An introduction into research design and drawing inferences from data. The first section covers theories, hypotheses, conceptualization and descriptive inference, and approaches to causal inference. The second section focuses on small-n research designs and qualitative methods, covering case studies, small-n comparative analysis, process tracing, and interviewing. The third section introduces students to some basic elements of quantitative research design and statistical analysis, including with both observational and experimental data.
Please note, this course does not fulfill the POLS Theory Requirement (must take POLS 011 or 012). This course may only be counted toward one distribution requirement for the major/minor.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Eligible for PPE.
Catalog chapter: Political Science  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science


Access the class schedule to search for sections.