“I Can Study That?!”: The Political Science Major and Minor: Data Science Track at Stanford University

The Major/Minor

This week’s feature is the Political Science Major and Minor: Data Science Track at Stanford University. From the website:

The Data Science track studies how we can use algorithms, statistics, and formal theory to extract knowledge from data and help predict, explain, or analyze political phenomena and behavior.

Two Interesting Courses

POLISCI 150A/355A: Data Science for Politics 

Data science is quickly changing the way we understand and engage in the political process. In this course we will develop fundamental techniques of data science and apply them to large political datasets on elections, campaign finance, lobbying, and more. The objective is to give students the skills to carry out cutting-edge quantitative political studies in both academia and the private sector. Students with technical backgrounds looking to study politics quantitatively are encouraged to enroll.

POLISCI 358: Data-driven Politics

Covers advanced computational and statistical methods for collecting and modeling large-scale data on politics. Topics will include automated and computer-assisted methods for collecting, disambiguating, and merging unstructured data (web-scraping, identity resolution, and record-linkage), database management (SQL, data architecture), data-reduction techniques for measuring the political preferences for large numbers of individuals, topic models applied to political text/speech, and social network analysis for mapping relationships and identifying influential actors.

Five Possible Complementary Majors/Minors at Stanford University:

• • Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity Major or Minor
  • Human Rights Minor
  • International Relations Major or Minor
  • Public Policy Major or Minor
  • Urban Studies Major or Minor

Unique Opportunities within the Major/Minor

The Department of Political Science offers Summer Research College (SRC) opportunities for students. From the website:

Participants will work directly with a faculty mentor for ten weeks and receive a $7,500 stipend with additional funding available based on financial need and/or location. Students also have the opportunity to attend optional research training seminars to learn additional skills throughout the summer. Projects will be done in person on campus. Summer Research College is designed to foster close intellectual exchange by involving students in the ongoing research of Stanford professors.

Sample Similar Programs

• • American University: Data Sciences for Political Science Major
  • Denison College: Data for Political Research Minor
  • University of California San Diego: Political Science – Data Analytics Major and Minor