Teaching and learning methods
There is a double lecture every week, the first half of which is a traditional lecture and the second half of which involves an interactive seminar style session. There is a bi-weekly group meeting slot, in which groups will meet to develop their research projects. Full attendance is expected. Throughout the course you will work in groups on a project-based assignment, and the content of the seminars will be focused on the successive stages of the assignment. The group meetings are designed to enable you to reflect on what you have learned from lectures and reading and to develop plans for the project on political behaviour. The project will require you to work with a group of your peers. At the start of the course, groups will choose a project with an objective relating to one of the topics covered during the course. You will receive guidance on key readings, questions to ask about research design, a list of possible methods, suggested resources or data sources that you might use. The final decisions on the project design will be taken collectively by the group. The interactive (seminar) part of the lecture will be dedicated to activities such as group presentations on theories of political behaviour related to your project, discussions of how to develop hypotheses and design the study and select methods (e.g. case studies, experiments, and analyses of survey data). I will provide all groups with advice and guidance on the assignment throughout the duration of the course. You will each write up your own report of the assignment.