1. Announcements: No lab this week (Friday, January 17) No lecture on Monday, January 20 th for MLK Jr. Day Make sure to read chapter 1 in the textbook by Wednesday, January 22 Assignment 1 is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, January 22

2. Introduction to Social Science Research January 15, 2014

3. Try to Define the following: Theory Science Political Science

4. What is Theory? Theory - A simplification of the real world  Problem with theory - something is always lost when we simplify reality in this way  What is social science theory?  What is political theory?

5. What is Science? Science - prescription for systematic reasoning, a body of knowledge –Deductive method - A process of reasoning from a theory to specific observation –Inductive method - A process of reasoning from specific observations to general principle

6. Scientific Approach to Political Science:  The application of the scientific method to political phenomenon  Political science is about the scientific study of political phenomenon Political Science as a Science Scientific method - method of inquiry based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning

7. Why study political science?

8. Purpose of Social Research Develop theories about political/social phenomena Simplify reality and predict outcomes

10. Statistics Necessity of Statistics Types of Statistics –Descriptive statistics - organize and summarize information about a collection of observations –Inferential statistics - concerned with generalizing theories beyond actual observations

11. What is Exploratory Data Analysis? Data - Pieces of information or statistics Smooth - pattern(s) that can be extracted from the raw data Rough - the remaining residuals that contain no pattern at all Data = Smooth + Rough

12. Terms you should know: Theory Science Political Science Deductive method Inductive method Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics Exploratory Data Analysis Data Smooth Rough