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Course Syllabus

Master 2024/2025

Research Seminar

Type: Compulsory course (Politics. Economics. Philosophy)
Area of studies: Political Science
Delivered by: Department of Theoretical Economics
Where: Faculty of Social Sciences
When: 1 year, 1-4 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of one campus
Instructors: Oleg I. Ananyin
Master’s programme: Политика. Экономика. Философия
Language: English
ECTS credits: 6

Course Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The course taught in the first year of the master’s program, serves as its “core class” whose fundamental goal is twofold – to develop understanding of the nature, potential and limits of social sciences, and to elucidate the links between political, economic, and philosophical components of the PEP program. The course does count on the students’ anterior basic familiarity with philosophy, economics and political science, as well as on their advancement in these academic disciplines through taking other respective classes offered by the program and coordinated with the Research seminar. The Seminar’s aspiration is to propel the students’ grasp of the constitutive disciplines of PEP through its own devices thereby contributing to the fulfillment of the fundamental interdisciplinary mission of PEP. It is aiming at strengthening students’ intellectual outlook, cultivating skills of critical thinking, professional and public discussion.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Provide skills of synthesizing methods of research which are conventionally believed to fall within the purview of separate compartmentalized social disciplines and philosophy (as a distinct sort of “knowing”); ability to pursue a “problem-driven” rather than “method-driven” strategy of research
  • Enhance ability of independent, critical, and innovative thinking
  • Enhance student’s soft skills of writing academic essays in conformity with the internationally established standards, of mastering rhetorical strategies and presentation techniques
  • Provide a platform for discussion of students’ research proposals, literature reviews and term-works
  • Provide a platform for master-classes of leading scholars
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • Know differences and similarities between the QCA and other comparative methods (Mill’s Methods and the comparative historical analysis etc.)
  • Practical ability to design, assess the quality and analyze the results of fthe QCA in the comparative social research
  • Students to be able to criticize and evaluate the quality of outcome of QCA studies
  • knows, how to use QCA in political research
  • A student is able to develop a research paper and prepare its public presentation
  • A student is able to develop a research proposal
  • A student is able to develop an outline of a research paper
  • A student is able to differentiate different approaches to public policy design and strategy development. S/he knows principles and methods of growth diagnostics applied in development studies, international experiences with assessment and implementation of large-scale projects, role of interdisciplinary approach in such cases, ways of its realization
  • A student is able to differentiate different types of social studies, forms adequate expectations about its strengths and weaknesses. S/he is aware of the differences between natural and social sciences, knows basic epistemological strategies, applied in political science and economics
  • A student understands mechanisms through which objective knowledge and ideological preconceptions are interconnected; knows of possible errors in concept formation leading to wrong generalizations; applies rules and norms of professional ethics regulating behaviour of a researcher facing value-based challenges.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Introduction to Epistemology of Social Sciences
  • Value Judgments in Social Sciences
  • Applied Social Sciences and Interdisciplinarity
  • Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Seminar activity
  • non-blocking In-class essays
  • non-blocking In-class presentations
  • non-blocking Project
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2024/2025 4th module
    0.2 * In-class essays + 0.2 * In-class presentations + 0.3 * Project + 0.3 * Seminar activity
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Akerlof, G. A. (1970). The Market for “Lemons”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.CAA2734F
  • Albert O. Hirschman. (2011). Development Projects Observed. [N.p.]: Brookings Institution Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2024537
  • Boudon, R. (2003). The Social Sciences and the Two Types of Relativism. Comparative Sociology, 2(3), 423–440. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913303100418861
  • Colander, D. (2005). From Muddling Through to the Economics of Control: Views of Applied Policy from J. N. Keynes to Abba Lerner. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.9ABF958F
  • Configurational comparative methods : qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and related techniques, , 2009
  • Constructing social research : the unity and diversity of method, Ragin, C. C., 2019
  • Dieguez, S. (2017). Post-Truth: The Dark Side of the Brain. Scientific American Mind, 28(5), 43. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0917-43
  • Emile Durkheim, & Steven Lukes. (2014). The Rules of Sociological Method : And Selected Texts on Sociology and Its Method. [N.p.]: Free Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1963188
  • Erik Angner. (2006). Economists as experts: Overconfidence in theory and practice. Journal of Economic Methodology, (1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501780600566271
  • Fuzzy-set social science, Ragin, C. C., 2000
  • Hausman, D. M. (2008). The Philosophy of Economics. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.cup.cbooks.9780521709842
  • Morgenbesser, L. (2014). Elections in Hybrid Regimes: Conceptual Stretching Revived. Political Studies, 62(1), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12020
  • Nabrendorf, R. O. (1949). Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences. American Sociological Review, 14(6), 821–822. https://doi.org/10.2307/2086694
  • Ragin, C. C. (2008). Redesigning Social Inquiry : Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=272594
  • Ragin, C. C. (2013). The Comparative Method : Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Oakland, California: University of California Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=784602
  • Ricardo Hausmann, Bailey Klinger, & Rodrigo Wagner. (2008). Doing Growth Diagnostics in Practice: A “Mindbook.” CID Working Papers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.cid.wpfacu.177
  • Rickman, H. P. (1976). The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology (Book). British Journal of Sociology, 27(4), 509–510. https://doi.org/10.2307/590190
  • Rihoux, B., Marx, A., Benoît, R., Axel, M., Charles C., R., Priscilla, Á.-C., … Ingo, R. (2013). QCA, 25 Years after “The Comparative Method”: Mapping, Challenges, and Innovations—Mini-Symposium. Political Research Quarterly, 66(1), 167–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912912468269
  • Rodrik, D. (2015). Economics Rules : Why Economics Works, When It Fails, and How To Tell The Difference. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1052377
  • Rodrik, D. (DE-588)121942325, (DE-576)164981713. (2007). One economics, many recipes : globalization, institutions, and economic growth / Dani Rodrik. Princeton [u.a.]: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.26523039X
  • Sartori, G. (1970). Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics. American Political Science Review, (04), 1033. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.apsrev.v64y1970i04p1033.1053.13
  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1949). Science and Ideology. American Economic Review, 39(2), 345–359. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsu&AN=8728687
  • Sugden, R. (2000). Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics. Journal of Economic Methodology, 7(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/135017800362220
  • The comparative method : moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies, Ragin, C. C., 1987
  • Weber, M., & Tribe, K. (2019). Economy and Society : A New Translation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2012211

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Ariel Rubinstein. (n.d.). 2006): “Dilemmas of an economic theorist. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.2D2E28AA
  • Axel Leijonhufvud. (1973). Life Among The Econ. Economic Inquiry, (3), 327. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1973.tb01065.x
  • Blaug,Mark. (1997). Economic Theory in Retrospect. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.cup.cbooks.9780521577014
  • DeMartino, G. F., & McCloskey, D. N. (2018). Professional Ethics 101: A Reply to Anne Krueger’s Review of The Oxford Handbook of Professional Economic Ethics. Econ Journal Watch, 15(1), 4–19. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsu&AN=128779271
  • Giovanni Sartori. (1991). Comparing and Miscomparing. Journal of Theoretical Politics, (3), 243. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.sae.jothpo.v3y1991i3p243.257
  • Gordon, S. (1991). The History and Philosophy of Social Science. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=77205
  • I. Gilboa, A. Postlewaite, L. Samuelson, & D. Schmeidler. (2015). Economic Models as Analogies. VOPROSY ECONOMIKI. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.nos.voprec.2015.04.6
  • Karl Marx. (2011). Capital (Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy) : A Critique of Political Economy). [N.p.]: Digireads.com Publishing. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1536502
  • Lindblom, C. E. (2010). The Science of “Muddling” Through. Emergence: Complexity & Organization, 12(1), 70–80. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsu&AN=51783676
  • Mäki, U. (2009). The Methodology of Positive Economics : Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=279902
  • Marx, K., Arthur, C. J., & Engels, F. (2001). The German Ideology. London: Electric Book Co. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=476798
  • Stenmark, M., Fuller, S., & Zackariasson, U. (2018). Relativism and Post-Truth in Contemporary Society : Possibilities and Challenges. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1897308
  • The Oxford handbook of philosophy of social science, , 2012
  • Zamora Bonilla, J. P., & Jarvie, I. C. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=509313

Authors

  • BABAYAN VALERIA VITALIEVNA
  • Karpich Yuliya Vladimirovna
  • PETROV IVAN IGOREVICH
  • SHISHKINA ALISA ROMANOVNA
  • Ananin Oleg Igorevich