IPE Quantitative Research Lab (Course number IPEC 250 ) Classroom location: Reynolds Family Hall (REYN) 131 Class day & time: Tuesday, 3:30pm-6pm Instructor: James Raymond Vreeland, Professor 2.0JamesRaymondVreeland WE ARE GLOBAL GEORGETOWN! 1

What are your expectations? 1.… 2.… 3.… 2

My expectations Standards of Excellence Attendance, punctuality, preparation, participation, thoughtfulness, intellectual curiosity, … 3

Goals: Skills Learn the pain of writing Presentation skills –with time constraints Quantitative analysis –Datasets –Descriptive data –Stata 4

Syllabus –Use it throughout the semester (every week) – Why are we looking at projects that I have been involved with? –Intimate understanding of a research project –A “tell all” class –How an idea becomes a paper, becomes an article, becomes a book… Note that everything in your textbooks starts out as just an idea, then a paper… 5

Activity Create a structure that will support the ball Materials: –Straws –Pins 20 minutes 6

Activity lessons Start with a theory –Collaboration! –We must be comfortable sharing our ideas with each other – healthy debate & critiques are encouraged –Question EVERYTHING… Test the theory –There is no proof (or disproof) – only corroborating & refuting evidence Compete with other theories… & repeat The ongoing global conversation continues… 7

For next week: Read: –Vreeland, James Raymond Foreign Aid and Global Governance: Buying Bretton Woods - The Swiss-bloc case. Review of International Organizations 6 (3-4): Replication materials –The First Walsh School of Foreign Service Undergraduate Working Paper Series in International Political Economy: Foreign Policy Goals and Preferences in International Political Economy. Ms. 8

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All research begins with a question Curiosity about the political & economic world around you is the main prerequisite for this class Think critically & ask questions And during class, always remember: –Those who ask questions are fools for five minutes; those who do not ask questions remain fools forever. 10

Thank you WE ARE GLOBAL GEORGETOWN! 11