Assignment 1
Assignment Title
Assignment Author
ASSIGNMENT 1a
"It is widely recognized that errors occur in empirical economic research and appear in published empirical articles. Our results...suggest that such errors are quite common. While many errors appear not to affect the conclusions of the authors significantly, the presence of the errors in a data set frustrates replication and prevents later researchers from building on earlier research."
W. DeWald, J. Thursby, and R. Anderson
(American Economic Review, 1983)
The same conclusions likely apply in political science. Within the scope of learning for about advanced statistics this semester, we will attempt to replicate findings appearing in major political science journals and textbooks. Toward that goal, Prof. Ward and I have been collecting data sets provided by other political scientists for your use. Your first assignment will involve an attempt to replicate results previously published by Mueller and Seligson in the American Political Science Review:
E. Muller & M. Seligson (1987) "Inequality and Insurgency." APSR 81: 425-451.
Your first task is to read this article and write a 2 page critique (due next Wednesday) on what is wrong with their statistical analysis from the perspective of everything you learned in your last statistics course. Does their methodology for addressing the question they wish to answer seem appropriate? Is their measurement strategy reasonable? Do their results make sense? Are the statistical coefficients interpreted properly? What would you do differently if you were attempting to answer the same question?
One way to address these questions is to begin to review what you learned about regression last year. Toward that goal see the initial readings listed in the syllabus. (There is a lot here by way of recovering the basic regression model which you learned about in PSCI 5085.)