Today we have a call for proposals from Jeffrey Bernstein at Eastern Michigan University.
I am working with Edward Elgar Publishing to produce an edited volume, tentatively entitled “Teaching Political Methodology,” that will focus on teaching this subject at the undergraduate level. Such a collection, I believe, will fill a hole in the literature. Most of our departments offer such a class; however, it usually proves to be a hard course to teach. I’m excited about the possibility of a book that articulates rationales for what this course should look like, and for how it can be done well.
The publishers are looking for fairly thin (200-250 page) book, most likely with around twelve contributors. The volume will likely consist of two parts. Section One will focus more on the larger, theoretical questions involved in teaching research methods to political science undergraduates. Why do we see this as an important topic for students to learn? Do we want to approach the course as teaching mostly research design, statistical analysis, or programming and using Big Data? How much should we focus on qualitative versus quantitative tools? While quantitative methods have traditionally dominated, scholars have noted the limitations and biases in both the questions asked and the tools used to answer these questions. To what extent should our courses reflect this?
Section Two will focus less on the theoretical and more on the applied. Once we have determined the sort of methods course we want to teach, how do we do it effectively? What are the best means to get across the central lessons from methods classes? What does it look like when students achieve our learning goals? Papers for this section should move beyond assertions of what we should be doing, or what we believe will work, and present evidence of student learning drawn from their work. They should include things such as sample assignments to help other instructors build on successful approaches to the subject.
If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please email me as soon as possible at jbernstei@emich.edu with a summary of the idea you are proposing, as well as a CV. The proposal deadline is May 1. Completed chapters will be due to me by May 31, 2020; this extended time frame will allow people to develop ideas for teaching these classes and test these approaches against data during the 2019-2020 academic year.