This course introduces students to advanced methodological debates and research design in political science. Students will learn research skills to interpret and explain political processes, learning from scholarly literature on case selection and research methodologies and from research papers where various methodologies are applied. They will apply these skills to design their own research projects and present their research design papers at the end of the course.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- develop research questions and puzzles;
- define and measure political science concepts;
- critically analyse political arguments;
- evaluate advantages and disadvantages of different methodological approaches and identify threats to valid causal inference; and
- design research strategies for case and method selection to answer research questions.
Indicative Assessment
- Concepts and measurement exercise (1000 words) (15) [LO 2]
- Research design presentation (10 minutes) (15) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Research design paper (5500 words) (40) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Causal analysis exercise (1500 words) (20) [LO 3,4]
- Class Participation (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
260 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 48 hours of seminars over 12 weeks
b) 212 hours of independent student research, reading, and writing.
Inherent Requirements
N/A
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Not required
Assumed Knowledge
Completion of a cognate major
Specialisations
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 14
- Unit value:
- 12 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 12.00 | 0.25000 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $8640 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $11640 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2669 | 20 Feb 2023 | 27 Feb 2023 | 31 Mar 2023 | 26 May 2023 | In Person | View |
