Introduction to Political Analytics

Intro to Political Analyt

Analytics and data-driven decision-making is playing an ever-larger role in modern political campaigns, think tanks, and media discussions of politics. In this foundations course, students learn about the history and evolution of data science in politics in the US and abroad, with a review of recent developments and trends as well as issues related to data governance, data privacy, and data ethics. Students are introduced to the scope of analytic methods employed across a range of relevant areas including campaigns, government, policy-making, and journalism. The course familiarizes students with a range of available tools and the ways in which they can be practically applied to politics and related fields. The course lays the groundwork for the specialized courses which will follow and helps students consider paths they may want to pursue to acquire specific knowledge and skills as they progress through the degree program.

• R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Schwam-Baird
  Info
• 2 points

Strategic Thinking

Politics involves a complex interaction of competing interests.  For practitioners, it is crucial to understand how efforts are met with responses, and predicting those responses is critical to designing successful strategies.  Game theory is the formal mathematical analysis of strategic interaction across the social sciences.  This course provides a general theoretical language to the theory of games, examining the intentional thought process of rational actors in strategic environments.  Students will acquire tools for understanding the dynamics that lead to the success of a political campaign or policy-making effort.  Course topics include two-person games, dynamic games, bargaining, and signaling. Students will also examine a variety of cases.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Ting
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 2 points

Experiments

Field experiments have become increasingly important ways of studying the effectiveness of political interventions, be they campaign tactics for mobilizing or persuading voters, fundraising tactics for political or charitable efforts, lobbying, recruiting volunteers, or influencing administrative or judicial outcomes through direct communication.  In this course, we will discuss the logic of experimentation, its strengths and weaknesses compared to other methodologies, and the ways in which experimentation has been -- and could be -- used to investigate political phenomena. We will discuss a wide array of applications.  Students will learn how to interpret and design experiments. In order to better understand the nuances of experimental design and analysis, we will roll up our sleeves and reanalyze some of the data from the weekly readings.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Donald P Green
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 87 Info
• 2 points

Campaign Finance & Fundraising Analytics

Campaign Fin & Fund Analy

Billions of dollars are raised and spent during U.S. presidential and congressional races each election cycle. Campaign expenditures play a critical role in election outcomes and political donations are used by corporations, unions, advocacy groups, and individuals to influence elected officials and public policy. Whether they are working for campaigns, advocacy groups, or consultants, political analysts need to have a sound understanding of campaign finance law and regulations, the chief strategies that contributors and recipients use to pursue their interests, and the incredibly rich data that is available to analyze and study campaign giving in the United States.

In this course, students will learn about the history and current state of campaign finance regulation, what motivates donors to give and what they may (or may not) receive in return, and how campaigns themselves fundraise and spend their billions. Students will become familiar with the ways data analytics have influenced how modern campaigns approach fundraising and the strategies used by candidates to finance a run for office. Finally, students will engage with the potential benefits and pitfalls of campaign finance reforms which, along with technological change, promise to keep political fundraising in a state of flux.

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Schwam-Baird
  Info
• 3 points

Capstone in Political Analytics

The capstone course is the culminating experience for students in the Political Analytics program. Students will have the opportunity to tackle a complex, real-world political analytics challenge for a sponsoring organization. The capstone provides students with analytics experience in a “live” setting and is intended to expose students to the problems, timelines, and communications needs of actual political decision-makers. Working in small teams while being mentored by a program faculty member, students will apply core knowledge, concepts, and frameworks acquired during the program and practice the hands-on skills they have developed in their classes. Throughout the semester, student project teams will interact with the sponsoring organizations as virtual consultants, scoping the problem, acquiring the data, conducting analyses, and ultimately presenting their findings and recommendations to the project sponsor.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• 3 points

Independent Study

This one-semester course provides an opportunity for a student to extend or supplement their educational experience via a deep-dive into an established or novel area of research of their choice (the topic), under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member (the supervisor). An independent study course allows a student to work one-on-one with a faculty member to gain and contribute new insight into the discipline of Political Analytics.

The topic can be chosen freely by the student as long as it falls within the general realm of Political Analytics or its specific content areas in the Political Analytics curriculum, such as politics and advocacy, data analytics, campaign management, polling, and quantitative methods. The course will therefore serve the dual purpose of allowing a student to pursue their own intellectual curiosity and to make a contribution to the wider discipline of Political Analytics while also deepening their understanding of the content they acquired in other courses, by applying this material to the specific topic chosen for the Independent Study.

• 1-3 points