Research Methods for Public Policy

1. Introduction to Research Design and Method

a. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

b. Components of Research Design

Readings:

* King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 1.

* Winston Phan Đào Nguyên (2017). Minh oan cho Petrus Trương Vĩnh Ký về câu "ở với họ mà không theo họ" ("Absolving Petrus Truong Vinh Ky in his quote "sic vos non vobis" (http://www.viet-studies.net/PhanDaoNguyen_PetrusKy.htm).

Shively, W. Phillips. 2001. "Chapter 2. Political Theories and Research Topics." The Craft of Political Research (5th Edition), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

De Vaus, David (2001). Research Design in Social Science, Chapter 1.

2. Descriptive Inferences

a. General Knoledge and Particular Facts

b. Purpose of Data Collection

c. Criteria for Judging Descriptive Inferences

Readings:

* King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 2.

3. Casuality and Casuality Inferences

a. Defining Casuality

b. Assumptions Required for Estimating Causal Effects

c. Criteria for Judging Causal Inferences

d. Rules for Constructing Causal Theories

Readings:

*King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 3.

Jones, Benjamin F. and Benjamin A. Olken. 2009. "Hit or Miss? The Effect of Assassinations on Institutions and War." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 1(2): 55-87.

4. Determining What to Observe

a. Indeterminate Research Designs

b. The Limits of Random Selection

c. Selection Bias

d. Intentional Selection of Observations

Readings:

*King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 4.

5. Understanding What to Avoid and How to increase the Number of Observations

a. Understanding What to Avoid

i. Measurement Error

ii. Excluding Relevant Variables

iii. Including Irrelevant Variables

iv. Endogeneity

b. How to increase the number of observations

i. Single-Observation Design for Causal Inference

ii. "Crucial" Case Studies

iii. How many observations are enough?

iv. How to increase the number of observations?

Readings:

*King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 5.

*King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 6.

6. Case Studies

Readings:

*Yin, Robert K. (2014). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Chapter 3-4 (p.71-130).

King, Keohane, and Verba (KKV), Chapter 4.

7. Comparative Cases

Readings:

*Lagin, Charles C. (2014). The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Oakland: University of California Press, Chapter 3-4.

8. "Process Tracing" and Causality

*Ricks, Jacob and Amy Liu. 2018. "Process-Tracing Research Designs: A Practical Guide." PS: Political Science and Politics 51(4): 842-846, and Appendix Material (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096518000975), Read Application 3 and 4 (p.19-39).

[In-class exercise] Use the example mentioned in David Collier (2018), "Teaching Process Tracing: Examples and Exercises" PS: Political Science and Politics 44(4): 823-830.

9. Interviewing Techniques

*Bryman, Alan. 2016. "Chapter 20. Interviewing in Qualitative Research." Social Research Methods (5th Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[In-class exercise] Choose a decision or a set of decisions issued by your provincial authorities. Senior politicians or civil servants who participate in the decision-making process should be interviewed. Write the interview guide for the conversation you are going to conduct with these officials. Specify how the interview is carried out and be adequately specific in intended interview questions. State the theoretical grounds for your interview design.

If you plan to do political interviews aimed at non-authority subjects as part of your thesis, these interviews can be replaced by those with protest movement leaders, community members or anyone deemed suitable for your research. Explain what you are looking from the interview and how the interview is planned to be.

10. Introduction about policy analysis

a. What is policy analysis?

b. Process of analysis

c. Policy analysis vs. Policy research

d. Discussion and Explanation of "Thesis Guide"

Readings:

*Dunn, Chapter 1: Process of analysis

*Weimer and Vining, Chapter 2: What is policy analysis?

* FSPPM, "Thesis Guide"

11. Defining Public Policy Issue IdentificationFormingStatement Strategic design for solution

Readings:

*Dunn, Chapter 3: Defining Public Policy Issues

Bardach, Part 1: "Eightfold Paths"

12. Using Models in Policy Analysis Types of models Identify appropriate models Pros and cons of a model

Readings:

*Stokey and Zeckhauser, Chapter 2

Stokey and Zeckhauser, Chapter 3

*Creswell, Chapter 7: The Use of Theory

13. Data Collection for Policy Analysis

a. Information Collection

• Secondary Sources 
• Primary Sources

b. Policy Analysis

• Devise options 
• Evaluate options 
• Make recommendations

c. Policy Research

• Construct qualitative hypothesis 
• Test qualitative hypothesis 
• Conclude

Readings:

*Weimer and Vining, Chapter 13: Gathering Information for Policy Analysis

*Kraft and Furlong, Chapter 5: Public Problems and Policy Alternatives

*Kraft and Furlong, Chapter 6: Assessing Policy Alternatives

14. Writing a Policy Paper and Moral Issues in Policy Analysis

a) Writing a policy paper

• Organization 
• Styles
• First Draft 
• Summary 
• Final Draft 
• Editing, fixing and formatting

Readings:

*Harvard Kennedy School, Policy paper guide

Dunn, Chapter 9: Communicating Policy Analysis

b) Moral Issues in Policy Analysis

• Integrity 
• Respect, public value and justice 
• Conflicts of interests and values: voice, exit, and loyalty

Readings:

*Weimer and Vining, Chapter 3: Towards Professional Ethics

Hoyle, Harris, and Judd, Chapter 3: Ethical Principles