Brief research agenda

The Department of Comparative Politics has a long tradition of commitment to research methods.  In fact, its very name is constituted by this tradition.  Today, the department continues to require its students at all levels to acquire research methods as well as to foster extant applications of research methods more generally. 

The group’s proposed mission is the study, teaching, and application of political research methods.  While our primary focus is placed upon quantitative methods and formal models in political research, we are not limited to these approaches.  We recognize and welcome efforts in the combinations of various methods as well as types of data knowing that a lot of innovative research takes place in the overlap and combinations of methods and data.  The group is open but not limited to research based upon both individual-level as well as aggregate data.  Our key interest in substantive areas of research lies within but is not limited to political behavior and political economy.

A variety of activities may fall within the general rubric of the proposed research group.  Some of these activities have been ongoing, and others are proposals for the immediate or more distant future.