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Course Information

Course

Number: POS 5737
Term: Fall 2022
Location: Bellamy 113
Day and Time: Wednesday, 2:30-5 pm
Website: pos5737.github.io
GitHub Organization: POS 5737 (private)

Instructor

Name: Carlisle Rainey
E-Mail: crainey@fsu.edu Office: Bellamy 540
Office Hours: MW, 1-2pm (but see general policy below) GitHub: carlislerainey

Teaching Assistants

Name: Harley Roe
E-Mail: hroe@fsu.edu
Office: TBD
Office Hours: TBD

Name: Qing Wang
E-Mail: qw20d@my.fsu.edu
Office: TBD
Office Hours: TBD

Course Description

This course introduces students to the basic methods of political science. It focuses on both statistical concepts (e.g., sample surveys) and computation (e.g., tidyverse). This course complements POS 5736 (research design) and 5744 (math). It serves as the foundation for POS 5746 (regression) and 5747 (maximum likelihood).

Course Objectives

In taking this course seriously, you will:

  1. Acquire and/or further develop knowledge of…
    1. basic statistical tools, such as a histogram, average, standard deviation, normal approximation, scatterplot, correlation, simple and multiple regression, sample surveys
    2. basic concepts in probability theory, such as conditional probability, the law of averages, the expected value, the standard error.
    3. advanced concepts in probability (that rely on calculus), such as a pmf or pdf, moments, and the central limit theorem.
    4. basic concepts in inference, such as a point estimate, interval estimate, and hypothesis test.
  2. Acquire and/or further develop the ability to…
    1. develop and present correct, compelling empirical arguments.
    2. use R for statistical computing, including the tidyverse.
    3. rely on a reproducible workflow to move from raw data to final manuscript with R, LaTeX, and rmarkdown.
    4. use git and GitHub to carefully manage the project files.

Textbooks

I recommend buying a hardcopy of the following textbook:

FPP: Freedman, Pisani, and Purves. 2007. Statistics. (4th Edition).

You might also find the following textbooks helpful (but see me before buying):

Gerring: Gerring. 2012. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework. (2th Edition).

Healy: Healy. 2018. The Plain Person’s Guide to Plain Text Social Science. plain-text.co.

GW: Grolemund and Wickham. 2017. R for Data Science. r4ds.had.co.nz.

Important Deadlines

Grading

I assign your grade in the course based on 14 conceptual homeworks (3% each; 42% total), 7 computational homeworks (3% each; 21% total), 14 reflections (1% each; 14% total), a data assignment in support of your first-year paper project (8%), and a final exam (15%).

Collaboration

In my view, social science should be a collaborative activity. But in this class, I want you to learn how to do social science, not just do social science. With that somewhat different goal in mind, you need to find the proper balance between working alone and with others. I simply ask that you make sure that collaboration is helping you learn and not helping you complete the assignment.

Seeking Help

If you run into an problem with the materials or homework assignments, please seek help. You can seek help from the instructor, the TAs, your classmates, and the internet, in that order. Be careful about the internet. While there’s lots of good advice, I’ve designed the class to follow logical flow, and you’ll find lots of correct advice on the internet that disrupts that flow.

At what point should you ask for help? In order to learn, you must struggle some. Ask for help when your struggle begins to turn into frustration. If you become frustrated, please reach out. I, the TAs, and your classmates are available to help.

Office Hours

I have scheduled office hours, but I plan to work from the office most afternoons. I usually work with my door shut to minimize distractions, but you should feel free to knock any time after lunch. If I happen to have something pressing, I will let you know. I do my best to push boring tasks to the afternoon and appreciate interruptions.

University Attendance Policy

Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

Academic Honor Policy

The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process. Students are responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their pledge to “…be honest and truthful and…[to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at Florida State University.” (Florida State University Academic Honor Policy, found at http://fda.fsu.edu/academic-resources/academic-integrity-and-grievances/academic-honor-policy.)

American’s with Disabilities Act

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:

  1. register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center; and
  2. bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type.

Please note that instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodation to a student until appropriate verification from the Student Disability Resource Center has been provided.

This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request.

For more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the:

Student Disability Resource Center
874 Traditions Way
108 Student Services Building
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
(850) 644-9566 (voice)
(850) 644-8504 (TDD)

http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/

Recordings in Class

Students are permitted to make recordings of class lectures for a class in which the student is enrolled for personal educational use. A class lecture is defined as an educational presentation delivered by the instructor as part of a university course intended to inform or teach enrolled students about a particular subject. Recording class activities other than class lectures, including but not limited to lab or recitation sessions; student presentations (whether individually or part of a group); class discussions (except when incidental to the lecture); clinical practica and presentations involving patient histories and other protected health information; academic exercises involving student participation; test or examination administrations; field trips; and private conversations between students in the class or between a student and the faculty member is prohibited. Recordings may not be used as a substitute for class participation and class attendance and recordings may not be published or shared without the written consent of the faculty member. Failure to adhere to these requirements may constitute a violation of FSU’s Student Code of Conduct and possibly have legal consequences. Students who record class lectures are asked to do so in ways that do not make others feel reluctant to ask questions, explore new ideas, or otherwise participate in class. Students must monitor their recording so that they do not include participation by other students without permission. Students with disabilities will continue to have appropriate accommodations for recordings as established by the Office of Accessibility Services.

The university takes violations of the above policy quite seriously. Be sure to note that “recording… class discussions… is prohibited.” The class usually has a lot of (not incidental) discussion, so carefully avoid recording these portions of the class.

Course Development

I develop the course materials and website on GitHub. If you see find a problem (even if you don’t see a solution), please let me know.

Syllabus Change Policy

Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice.

Changes

None yet.

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Carlisle Rainey