PA 9950 Quantitative Research Methods in Public Administration

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the theory and application of linear modeling to economic and public policy problems. The course focuses on the techniques used in empirical research with a particular focus on intuitive understanding. Problem sets will introduce real world applications and teach you the fundamentals of statistical programming in Stata. No prior knowledge of computer programming in necessary.

The focus of this course will be to provide you with the theoretical and practical skills necessary to conduct your own empirical research. You are encouraged to work in groups on the problem sets, however, you must turn in your own homework and write up the answers on your own.

Course Objectives

1. The fundamental purpose of this course is to develop the skills necessary to conduct high-quality empirical social science research. Students must be able to understand both the theory and application of statistical methods in the social sciences.
2. Theory: students will be familiar with the statistical assumptions underlying the use of multivariate regression techniques, under what conditions these assumptions are violated, the implications for your research of violating these assumptions, and alternative estimators that help correct for these violations.
3. Practice: students must be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of how to diagnose and test empirical models. Additionally, students must aster the techniques for correcting models that violate statistical assumptions.