WORKSHOP: Support for Graduates Students at the University of Houston EITM Summer Training Institute

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Houston Emperical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM) Summer Training Institute facilitates a rigorous and productive dialogue between theoretical and empirical analysis in political science. While many political scientists are skilled at developing intricate theoretical models of important political phenomena, insufficient attention to the manner in which such efforts can inform empirical work can limit the relevance of this research to important social phenomena. On the other hand, scholars armed with a dataset and a statistics package, but bereft of precise and logically coherent theory, may be unable to provide credible accounts of cause and effect. The EITM research approach is based on the premise that attention to the logical relationships between theoretical models and empirical work can produce improvements in both. Such approaches are inherently more advanced than the courses most departments currently staff. The University of Houston EITM Summer Training Institute provides participants with unique opportunities to learn and pursue innovative research practices. Training at the institute includes significant teaching and research components, providing students a high degree of individualized interaction with a far wider and deeper array of EITM mentors than are available at any individual institution. Students develop bonds with other students and mentors that will facilitate their development in graduate school, their research, and their academic or non-academic careers. Together, the institute will create a direct positive impact for graduate students who may not have these opportunities in their graduate programs. This could increase the intellectual capital of the scholarly community as a whole. Other benefits include the dissemination of improved research and internet-based course materials such as EITM syllabi, lecture notes, homework exercises, demonstrations, replication datasets, and working papers, which are made available to the public as soon as they are released to the students. Such activities can increase the social relevance of scientific research.