Government Research Practicum Course

This two-semester course sequence attempts to provide undergraduate students with a fairly comprehensive introduction to the research process in the social sciences. As part of this program, students will attend regular classes, write their own first-rate research paper, and gain internship experience with Innovations for Peace and Development (IPD).

During the first semester (GOV 355C), the classroom part of the course covers the essential elements of applied social science research, including arguments, concepts, measures, causality, and basic statistics. Given that knowledge of statistical software, text editors, reference management software, and mapping software is increasingly helpful for success in the social sciences, the course also provides training in Stata, R, LaTeX, Mendeley, Python, and ArcGIS. At the end of the first semester, students hand-in their own well-developed Research Proposals in lieu of a final exam. To help students prepare for their final Research Proposals, students must submit a separate Introduction, Dependent Variable section, Literature Critique section, and Research Design section during the semester – with each assignment building on the last one, and students being required to address feedback from previous rounds in the next submission. In addition to learning from the instructor feedback, students must submit an anonymous referee report of another student’s work and incorporate that feedback into the Research Proposal.

During the second semester (GOV 355D), classroom instruction covers experiments, data structures, data cleaning, hypothesis testing, measurement challenges, linear regression, as well as the basics of panel data, regression discontinuity designs, difference-in-differences, synthetic controls, logistic regression, and network analysis. Training in the above software programs will continue during the second semester as well. At the end of the second semester, students complete their own research projects, write-up their results in a formal paper, and present their findings to the class. To help students prepare for the Final Paper, students must submit a Revise & Resubmit assignment (to address feedback from Research Proposals during Semester 1), a Codebook/Clean Data Assignment, and an Empirical Analysis/Results section. In addition to learning from the instructor feedback, students must submit an anonymous referee report of another student’s work and incorporate that feedback into the Final Paper.

Click here to learn more about the research practicum course and download the syllabus.

Practicum Instructor: Mike Denly

Mike Denly is a Ph.D. Candidate in UT Austin's Department of Government He currently serves as Team Leader of IPD's Governance and Corruption team. His substantive research focuses on the political economy of development, with an emphasis on corruption, natural resources, and foreign aid. Mike also has a separate methodological research agenda, focusing on external validity. Prior to joining UT Austin, Mike worked for the US State Department, the European Commission, and the World Bank. Since starting his Ph.D., Mike has consulted extensively for the World Bank and USAID on governance and anti-corruption issues. Mike holds a dual MA in Development Management and Policy from Georgetown University and Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Argentina, an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and a BA in International Studies from the University of Denver. Primarily as a result of studying and working in various countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, Mike is fluent in French, Spanish, and Italian, and also speaks basic Dutch.

Questions about the practicum course? Email michael.denly@gmail.com.

Student Testimonial: Lauren Essary, Government BA

"Through the Research Practicum course, I developed an independent research project that analyzed the relationship between environmental anomalies and terrorist violence using regression models. I also gained experience coding data and working on collaborative research projects, which has benefited me in both my other courses and my professional pursuits. This course was a really great introduction to doing my own research, and getting to work one-on-one with a PhD student on a regular basis was invaluable."