Students and faculty wearing matching sweatshirts

Concentrators are required to take a Politics course in systematic analysis, normally no later than the first semester of the junior year. The Department strongly recommends completing this requirement before the end of the sophomore year. The analytical course must be taken for a grade - not P/D/F. 

The analytical requirement can be met by taking a Politics course in quantitative methods (POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211 or POL 346) -or- formal theory (POL 250 or POL 347/ECO 347).

Quantitative Methods (POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211 or POL 346)

A recent New York Times headline read "For Today's Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics."  Why?  The world needs more people to help identify patterns and insights amid an explosion of digital data.  Statistics are also useful for answering questions in political science.  Has the American Congress grown more polarized?  Why are some countries rich and others poor?  What leads people to engage in terrorist acts? POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211 and POL 346 serve as a two course sequence designed to help students address questions such as these in a systematic, data-driven manner.  The first semester introduces students to descriptive statistics, probability theory, and the basic theory of inference and estimation.  We place a particular focus on the distinction between correlative and causal inference.  The second semester follows directly from the first, with a focus on the sorts of models commonly encountered in research and industry settings: linear models, binary and count models, and panel data.  The second semester will focus, in particular, on how to present results effectively as part of a junior paper or senior thesis.  Both semesters utilize the popular R programming language.  POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211 and 346 also count towards the undergraduate certificate in Statistics and Machine Learning.

  • POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211: Introduction to Quantitative Social Science. This course is the first in the Department’s two-course sequence in undergraduate-level political methodology. It provides an introduction to statistical analyses in the social sciences. No prior knowledge aside from high school algebra is assumed. Topics include causal inference, estimation, and statistical programming. Through analyzing real world data sets, the course equips students with the skills necessary to produce a basic statistical analysis at the level of a Junior Paper or Senior Thesis. The sequence continues with POL 346. The course is typically offered in the fall semester. 
  • POL 346: Applied Quantitative Analysis. This course focuses on developing an intuition for statistics and applying it through data analysis, regression models and a final project. Students wrestle with what makes a good research question, play with data to see how statistical methods can help us make sense of real world concerns, and work at communicating quantitative findings clearly to broad audiences. Particular attention will be paid to applying these techniques in Junior Papers and Senior Theses. Coursework involves using the R statistical platform. Upon completion of POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211 and POL 346, students are eligible to take the Department’s graduate sequence in quantitative methods. POL 346 is typically offered in the spring semester.

Formal Theory (POL 250 or POL 347/ECO 347)

Much of politics revolves around strategic interactions between political actors. This is true in all fields of political science. In deciding whether to present a policy proposal to Congress, the President must anticipate the voting behavior of members of Congress. In deciding whether to engage in a public protest, individuals take into consideration the reaction of the regime, as well as that of fellow protesters. In deciding to go to war, countries anticipate the decisions of the enemy and the international community.   Formal Methods and Game Theory are powerful analytical tools that help us understand these complex strategic interactions, by focusing on how institutions and social norms shape the incentives, trade-offs and beliefs of political actors. The Politics Department offers a number of courses in game theory and formal methods. POL 347 provides an introduction to game theory in political science, covering static and dynamic games of complete and incomplete information, and applications to bargaining, vote buying, strategic information transmission, conflict, and cooperation in repeated games.

  • POL 250: Introduction to Game Theory. This course seeks to develop intuition about how individuals interact in political settings. The course presents an introduction to non-cooperative game theory and then applies these tools to develop an understanding of key phenomena in political economy. The focus ranges from informal decision-making in groups to how leaders are elected, to how elites make and implement policy, to how countries interact and decide whether to resolve their differences violently.
  • POL 347/ECO 347: Game Theory in Politics (formerly listed as: Mathematical Models in the Study of Politics). This course offers an advanced introduction to the use of game theory to study strategy and public choice in politics. The course covers the fundamentals of static and dynamic games of complete and incomplete information, as well as an introduction to the theory of repeated games. Each topic is developed with an application in political science, including strategic voting in elections and committees, bargaining, lobbying, strategic information transmission, and political agency. Prerequisites: MAT 103.


A complete list of courses that fulfill the analytical requirement can be found below.
 

  • POL 250: Introduction to Game Theory
  • POL 341: Experimental Methods in Social Science
  • POL 345/SOC 305/SPI 211: Introduction to Quantitative Social Science
  • POL 346: Applied Quantitative Analysis
  • POL 347/ECO 347: Game Theory in Politics
  • ANT 301: The Ethnographer’s Craft
  • ANT 302/ENT 302: Ethnography for Research and Design
  • ECO 202: Statistics and Data Analysis for Economics
  • ECO 302: Econometrics
  • ECO 312: Econometrics: A Mathematical Approach
  • ORF 245/EGR 245: Fundamentals of Statistics
  • PHI 201: Introductory Logic
  • SOC 404: Social Statistics
  • SPI 200: Statistics for Social Science

NOTE: SOC 245/POL 245 (Visualizing Data) cannot be used to fulfill the analytical requirement.

The course used to fulfill the analytical requirement cannot be used to satisfy primary, secondary or third field requirements, but it does count as a departmental.


Even if the course fulfilling this requirement is taken outside the Department, students may still take two cognates.