Course info

This course introduces students to core methodologies of field research and their applications in contemporary political science. Students are given a background in the history of field research as a mode of social science inquiry, along with attendant discussions of ethics and positionality. The course then overviews different approaches to field research, including interviews, focus groups, ethnography, sub-national data collection, surveys, and experimental approaches. The course concludes with an assessment of the logistical and ethical considerations of scholarly fieldwork. The course engages with both quantitative and qualitative approaches to fieldwork, as well as connections therein. Discussions of core field research methods are complemented by recent empirical applications of these methods, primarily in the Global South.