Students in this course will gain hands-on experience analyzing data from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election using R statistical software. This course will help to reinforce statistical skills developed in other POLS classes (e.g., POLS 286) while focusing on analysis of a timely political event (the election this November). The short timeline of the three week session better reflects what students may encounter in the workforce, as they will be asked to quickly develop a research question focused on 2020 election outcomes, conduct their research, and write up a brief report summarizing their findings.
It is recommended (but not required) that students have previously completed POLS 286 or a similar research methods or statistics course in a different department. But, all students are welcome to enroll. No prior experience with R statistical software is required.
Political science majors and minors can work with Political Science Undergraduate Advisor, Carmen Kelle, to make sure POLS 398 counts toward degree requirements. This course may be counted toward the American Government or Biology, Psychology, and Politics areas in the department, but students will need to contact Carmen at ckelle@unl.edu to request this change.
Students are welcome to contact me via email (ihaas2@unl.edu) if they have any questions about the course.
More details at: https://polisci.unl.edu/paclab/syllabi/POLS398_Fall2020_Haas.pdf