This course introduces students to tools and foundational strategies for developing evidence-based understandings of politics and public policy. The course covers cognitive and other biases that distort interpretation. It then progresses to methodological approaches to evidence gathering and evaluation, including sampling techniques, statistical uncertainty, and deductive and inductive methods. The course concludes by introducing tools used in advanced political science and public policy courses.
Areas of Focus: Public Policy, and Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis