The intensive, one-week methodological courses, will train students on the use of specific techniques of analysis (e.g., survival, analysis, multilevel models, process tracing, qualitative comparative analysis). An effort is always made to provide a good mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques.
Registration policy
First-year students can take both courses, but they will only be required to take one depending on the characteristics of their theses (quantitative or qualitative).
If there are vacancies (less than 20 students), the methodological courses will be opened for registration to students from previous cohorts (registration will be based on first come first served basis).
For students from previous cohorts (2nd year onwards) send an e-mail to: [email protected] Please indicate in the subject 'Registration to PhD Methodological Course' and the number of the couser for which you are applying.
I. Workshop on Causal Inference in Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs
Professor: Dr. Daniel Horn (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, KRTK, Hungary).
Duration: 25 hours
Dates (tentative): 25-29 January 2021.
Course Description
The goal of this course is to teach PhD students the basics of experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, including natural experiments, field experiments, lab experiments and survey experiments, as well as regression discontinuity designs, instrumental variables, and diff-in-diff designs. The course will first introduce the current standard view on causal inference and the limitations of using observational designs. After discussing the basic theoretical logic for each experimental and quasi-experimental design, and reviewing a few applied examples from published work, we will hold lab session which will provide a hands-on approach to analyzing data using replication materials from well-known experimental and quasi-experimental articles using Stata.
II. Case-based methods: a practical introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Process-tracing methods
Professor: Dr. Derek Beach (Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark)
Duration: 25 hours
Dates (tentative): 15-19 February 2021.
Course Description
This five-day, 25 hour course introduces the core principles underlying Process Tracing and QCA methods, enabling participants to be able to use the methods either alone or in combination in relation to their own research. Day 1 will introduce the foundations of case-based methodology, and how it differs from variance-based and interpretivist methodologies. Day 2 and 3 will walk through the two core components of Process Tracing as a within-case method, focusing on the nature of what causal processes are and how we can theorize them, and how we can trace processes empirically using observable traces left by activities. Day 4 and 5 will provide a non-technical introduction to QCA as a distinct comparative method and how it can be used in conjunction with Process Tracing case studies, introducing principles of set theory and logical elimination. Teaching is a combination of lectures and in-class group work. There will be pre-class readings that will be distributed in advance of the course.