https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/ Recent content in Q&A and Miscellaneous Thoughts on Political Science Research Methods Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us &copy; Fanghui Zhao 2019 <i class="fas fa-tree" style="color: #40a990;"></i> Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-03-23-boxplot/ Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0400 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-03-23-boxplot/ Box plot is a powerful way to visualize the distribution of a continuous variable. However, it hides crucial information when our data is not uni-modal (i.e. has more than one peak in the distribution). Box plot is a very information-rich. From the graph, we can see: The median value, as shown by the bar in the middle. The inter-quartile range, shown by the total length of the box. The 1st quartile (25th percentile) and the 3rd quartile (75th percentile), indicated respectively by the lower boundary and the upper boundary of the box. https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-03-01-survey/ Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-03-01-survey/ Table of Contents In the class we talked about surveys having high external validity, but weak in internal validity. Does external validity take precedence (over internal validity) in terms of importance, or vice versa? Is random sampling and randomization the same thing? How can we account for coverage error in experimental studies? In the class we talked about surveys having high external validity, but weak in internal validity. https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-22-comparative/ Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-22-comparative/ Table of Contents Can you explain more about the connection between Mill’s method of difference and experiments? Is the concern for external validity problems only apply to method of difference, or method of agreement as well? Is selecting on dependent variable only a problem for method of agreement? The lecture mentioned that method of difference has trouble estimating “multiple causes”. What are some examples of “multiple causes” cases? https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-15-rational-choice/ Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-15-rational-choice/ Table of Contents Costs of Voting Can you explain a bit more about the table for costs of voting? Game Theory and Government Shutdown Trump was prolonging the shutdown in order to get funding for the wall, is that a game theory/strategic interaction scenario? Costs of Voting Can you explain a bit more about the table for costs of voting? https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-01-natural-experiment/ Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-02-01-natural-experiment/ Table of Contents Natural Experiments In class you mentioned “Natural experiments based on geographical boundaries can be complicated by human factors”. Can you explain a bit more what this means? How would we know if the “as-if randomization” assumption is valid? Observational studies Is there any way to get rid of confounding variables in observational studies? How are longitudinal studies and cross-sectional studies different? https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-25-experiment/ Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-25-experiment/ Table of Contents About Informed Consent Is informed consent always necessary when considering the ethics of social science experiments? For some experiments, obtaining informed consent could affect the results (if people are aware of what the researchers are trying to do). Exactly how much are the researchers required to inform the participants about the experiment? Does knowing you are part of an experiment affect how they respond? https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-19-example-measurement-stata/ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-19-example-measurement-stata/ Example: Racial Resentment Scale Racial resentment scale is commonly used to measure symbolic racism. The scale contains four items, for each question, respondents indicate whether they agree or disagree with the statement on a five-point scale. The question wording and the respective variable number as appeared in American National Election Studies (ANES) 2016 are given below: V162211: &lsquo;Irish, Italians, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-18-measurement/ Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:00:00 -0500 https://fanghuiz.github.io/ps0700/post/2019-01-18-measurement/ Table of Contents Types of measurement Errors How to differentiate between systematic vs random error? Do you have any examples of systematic errors in measurement? Which error (systematic vs random) is worse? Which one should we try to avoid more? About the True Score Theory $T = X + \epsilon$, how do we know how close our measured value $X$ is close to the true score $T$, if we cannot truly know $T$?