Colleagues,

Below is another "take" on Graduate Methods Training from another
program at American University.

Peri Schwartz-Shea

Teaching Methodologies to Ph.D. Students: One Approach

Patrick T. Jackson, Assistant Professor, School of International
Service, American University
Stephen J. Silvia, Associate Professor, Director of Doctoral Studies,
School of International Service, American University

Methodological choice has become increasing contentious in the social
sciences in general and political science in particular.  In general,
scholars have responded in two ways.  One option is to declare
categorically that one methodological approach is superior to all others
and to instruct students in that approach exclusively.  At American
University's School of International Service, we have taken a different
tack.  As an interdisciplinary program, we acknowledge the diversity of
approaches to knowledge-construction in the social sciences and strive
to make sure that our graduate students receive a firm grounding in a
variety of approaches.  We conceptualize methodologies as tools in a
toolbox; they are a variety of instruments designed to produce knowledge
in different ways.  Our methodology courses seek to train students to
make intelligent choices about which tool is appropriate for a
particular research task.

Students in the Ph.D. program at the School of International Service are
required to enroll in a two-course multiple-methodology sequence that
aims to familiarize them with the broad spectrum of approaches to the
production of knowledge in the social sciences.  The course covers a
variety of methodologies, ranging from large-n quantitative analysis to
small-n case study to participant-observation ethnography and discourse
analysis.  The courses are designed to give students both a basic
grounding in these various approaches and to enable them to make
informed decisions about which approach makes the most sense for their
individual projects.  As such, philosophy of science is integrated
throughout the sequence.

In addition to this broad "methodological tapas," students are required
to select an additional upper-level methodology course that will provide
them with additional training in the approach that they, in conjunction
with their advisers, feel is most appropriate for their own research.
 In this way, our students achieve two distinct but related goals: a
broad competence in a variety of methodological approaches, and advanced
proficiency in the approach that is most germane to their research
interests.

Methodological diversity does not mean sacrificing rigor or abandoning
the goal of producing valid knowledge.  It does mean dropping the
conceit that any one methodology has a monopoly on truth.  Instead,
methodological diversity means adopting a more instrumental approach to
methodology.  In other words, students should select the right tools for
the right job on a case-by-case basis.  At the School of International
Service, our methodology courses are designed to advance this goal, and
to produce competent practitioners of a more pluralistic social science.


-
Peregrine Schwartz-Shea
Associate Professor

University of Utah
Political Science Department
260 South Central Campus Drive Rm 252
Salt Lake City, UT  84112-9152

(801) 581-6300 phone mail
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