POL2810Y1Y L0101

M.A. Research Seminar I

Themes

The purpose of this MA seminar is to provide an opportunity for students to design and execute an independent research project over the course of the year on a question that interests them. Students will be encouraged to choose a specific topic that falls under the broad theme described in the next paragraph. Alternatively, they may select another topic of interest to them, with the approval of the instructor, even if it lies outside the major parameters of this overall seminar theme.The purpose of this MA seminar is to provide an opportunity for students to design and execute an independent research project over the course of the year on a question that interests them. Students will be encouraged to choose a specific topic that falls under the broad theme described in the next paragraph. Alternatively, they may select another topic of interest to them, with the approval of the instructor, even if it lies outside the major parameters of this overall seminar theme.The purpose of this MA seminar is to provide an opportunity for students to design and execute an independent research project over the course of the year on a question that interests them. Students will be encouraged to choose a specific topic that falls under the broad theme described in the next paragraph. Alternatively, they may select another topic of interest to them, with the approval of the instructor, even if it lies outside the major parameters of this overall seminar theme.

The broad theme of the seminar is that of democratization and democratic reform. This theme encompasses both the phases of democratic transition and consolidation in “new democracies” and reforms designed to reduce the “democratic deficit” in older, more “mature” democracies. We shall analyze and evaluate some major contributions to the literature, and discuss their relevance for the various Major Research Papers in the seminar, in relation to this theme. We will also debate more general theoretical and methodological issues currently under discussion in political science that are related to this theme and to the proposed MA research topics of the students.

The broad theme of the seminar is that of democratization and democratic reform. This theme encompasses both the phases of democratic transition and consolidation in “new democracies” and reforms designed to reduce the “democratic deficit” in older, more “mature” democracies. We shall analyze and evaluate some major contributions to the literature, and discuss their relevance for the various Major Research Papers in the seminar, in relation to this theme. We will also debate more general theoretical and methodological issues currently under discussion in political science that are related to this theme and to the proposed MA research topics of the students.

The broad theme of the seminar is that of democratization and democratic reform. This theme encompasses both the phases of democratic transition and consolidation in “new democracies” and reforms designed to reduce the “democratic deficit” in older, more “mature” democracies. We shall analyze and evaluate some major contributions to the literature, and discuss their relevance for the various Major Research Papers in the seminar, in relation to this theme. We will also debate more general theoretical and methodological issues currently under discussion in political science that are related to this theme and to the proposed MA research topics of the students.

Texts

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970); Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba (KKV), Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994); Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997); Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Levy, eds., Approaches to Qualitative Research: A Reader in Theory and Practice (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Format and Requirements

The course is structured with the goal of providing maximum support and assistance to the students as they develop their projects and bring them to completion. In the first half of the fall term students in the seminar will consider the applicability of these different theoretical approaches and methodologies to their thematic and issue concerns. We will debate in broad general terms during this period the respective merits and shortcomings of naturalistic (positivist/empiricist) versus interpretivist (culturalist/ constructivist) perspectives in social science, and their relevance for the different seminar research topics under consideration.

In the second half of the fall term students will begin the process of defining their research topics and issues more specifically and concretely, of selecting their cases and defining the scope and time period of their research problem, and of adopting the approaches and research methods that seem most applicable to these issues and cases. We will also invite specialists or experts to address the seminar on relevant topics such as use of electronic library resources and formulating and implementing research proposals. In the final week of the fall term, the students in the seminar will be divided into several sub-groups which have common or similar methodological concerns (e.g. quantitative/statistical studies, comparative qualitative studies, single case studies). The students in each of these sub-groups will present brief (c. 5-10 minute) oral summaries and 5-10 page written drafts of their Research Proposals. These Proposals should include brief descriptions of the thematic issues, research questions, and theoretical approaches and methods that they have tentatively adopted for their projects. Other students in the seminar sub-groups will be asked to raise clarifying questions, provide constructive criticism and make helpful suggestions at this time.

In the first half of the winter term (January and February) there will be no regular plenary seminar meetings, and students will meet by themselves in small group sessions. They will also be expected to meet at least once with the instructor on an individual basis during this period for assistance in preparing their detailed research plans.

In the final week of February and first week of March, just after the Reading Week break, the students in each sub-group will present progress reports on their research both orally and in writing. They should be made available to the instructor and to other students in their sub-group. During the rest of March the research proposals will be transformed into draft papers, which will be presented in a series of small group workshops, scheduled during the first week of April. The draft papers will be presented orally in a mini-conference format for about 15 minutes, and then evaluated and critiqued for 5 minutes by a commentator from the sub-group selected for this purpose. Other students attending the workshop will also be given some opportunity to comment on the papers. Written drafts of about 30-35 pages in length should be made available to both the instructor and the other students in the group.

During the following two weeks in April the draft papers will be revised to enable students to incorporate responses to the comments and criticisms of the instructor and other students. The students will then submit their final papers to the instructor, who will mark them and assign each paper an overall seminar grade. Those planning to graduate in the spring must submit their papers early enough in the last week of April to meet any deadlines for this convocation set by the Graduate Office. In appropriate individual cases, however, students may petition this Office in writing, with the support of the instructor, that they be granted extensions and later deadlines during the summer for completion of their final essays.

Requirements:
Students are expected to cover the assigned readings for each seminar session, to make oral presentations within the format described above at
regular intervals, and to participate actively in the seminar discussion of each topic. They are also required to submit to the instructor and to the Liaison Librarian for Political Science (Jenny Mendelsohn) a brief (2-3 page) final Library Report. Final grades are based on a composite evaluation of fall term oral reports and written presentations (25%), winter term oral reports and written presentations (25%), and overall seminar participation and the final Major Research Paper (50%).