This course introduces students to a personal practice of quantitative social research. It covers both practical and epistemological tools, with a particular emphasis on creativity, interdisciplinarity, and collaboration as part of a developing empirical skillset.

• Practical: Research design; Data acquisition and management; Sampling and selection; Hypothesis testing, falsification, and robustness; Correlation, causality, and validity; Communication.
• Epistemological: Cognitive bias, creativity, interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and positionality; Probability, certainty, and accuracy.

Over twelve weekly meetings, students will develop a small piece of empirical quantitative research from concept to ‘completion’ (final essay). (Assessments 1, 4)

Each meeting usually combines a participatory lecture on the week's topic (e.g. creativity, causality, etc) with a coworking session in which we dig deeper into students' questions on the topic and undertake practical exercises to develop their research. Each week, students will make two contributions in class: a.) from their reading of one or two core texts (Assessment 1); and b.) to the development of their final essay via an exercise or discussion (Assessment 2).  Approximately three meetings are reserved for intensive collaborations: peer review, joint research proposals (Assessment 3), etc.

Upon completion of the course, students will have acquired the basic skills necessary to see a quantitative research project through from conception to completion. Additionally, they will be able to identify and evaluate the claims of published research against the background of data collection. Students will also gain experience:

• collaborating within a research community
• communicating about empirical quantitative research
• developing a creative personal research agenda
• managing the logistical components of a quantitative research project

Informal in-class writing assignments; Oral discussion; Peer review; Independent reading; Final written essay, including novel quantitative analysis, on a topic of students’ choosing.

1. Participation/contribution: 50%

2. Research design & management: 15%

3. Collaborative mini-proposals: 15%

4. Final essay: 20%

This class is conducted in English. All levels of experience in quantitative methods are welcome. Basic working knowlege of at least one of the following is required: R, Stata, or Microsoft Excel.

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