Part 2: Introduction to simple (linear) causality
|
Date |
Subject |
Exams, quizzes, little ungraded assignments, due dates Note: Assignments are group assignments |
Reading and other materials |
|
Tuesday, September 6 |
Why we care about “y”: using ethics responsibly in social science Topic 2: How to read an abstract, table
|
Assignment Bring to class: paragraph: why does your Y matter?
|
Rule of Law model paper: why Y matters. Download Rule of Law model paper: why Y matters. I wrote above paper FOR YOU. This is the part about why the question matters: I went on for a dozen pages to show you examples of the kinds of arguments one can make. Your version will only be 1-2 paragraphs. “Enigmas of Tolerance” Links to an external site. Above article presents an academic literature review with a different purpose than yours: Gibson is showing how to understand puzzles. It helps you understand how a research article can be important even if you don't care about this Y. Research unrelated to political tolerance could address these puzzles. If you are time-constrained, just read one of the enigmas. You may be quizzed on it.
|
|
Thursday, September 8 |
Three kinds of literature reviews |
Assignment: Make a causal argument, using an independent variable in your data and bring it to class. Bonus if you use a scholarly article to bolster your argument. |
Links to an external site.BSS Theory Links to an external site. PowerPoint on Literature Reviews Links to an external site. Above PowerPoint is a quick read, not a lecture Rule of law literature review (It also includes what will be in Milestone 2) Download Rule of law literature review (It also includes what will be in Milestone 2) Recommended: some other examples of causal arguments Theory causality: application in education research Links to an external site. Shipley Causal Inference Logic: application in biostats (botany research) Links to an external site. Example of literature review - political participation Links to an external site. |
|
Tuesday, September 13 |
How to write a literature review efficiently |
Assignment: Bring a copy of three abstracts of papers related to the three kinds of literature reviews. Helpful hint: if it does not have a table presenting statistics from a regression as in the Gordon table Links to an external site., it is not likely to be helpful. |
Please, for the love of all that is great about this universe, just watch this five-minute video. It will save you dozens of hours, as long as you follow this advice. When writing an efficient literature review, you will use the Outline I have provided, and substitute my italicized concept headings for your own, informed by the literature you are reading about the causes of your dependent variable. Watch the following ten-minute video on how to use the free app Zotero. It will also save you dozens of hours. It will also show how to be efficient without using Zotero. If you are finding the installation of Zotero difficult, please ask OIT for how to make the installation work. I will not be helpful on this topic as I worked and worked and then did nothing different and it finally worked. I assume it was magic. |
|
Thursday, September 15 |
Concepts and units: Venn diagrams, DAGs, crosstabs, and scatterplots |
Notice that after today, readings and assignments are light. |
OST Chapters 4-8 Links to an external site.
|
|
Tuesday, September 20 |
Descriptive inference: From variation to co-variation and correlation: Venn diagrams, DAGs, crosstabs, and scatterplots |
In-class: Lecture and practice |
BSS: Descriptive conceptualization Links to an external site. |
|
Thursday, September 22 |
Bivariate correlation |
In class: lecture and practice |
Work on your literature review. It is due in one week! |
|
Friday, September 23 |
|
Milestone 1 rough draft optional due on Canvas at 5pm |
|