Why has it become popular among political scientists to design and administer randomized experiments? What are the advantages of experiments? What are the new experimental tools used in political science? What are the problems and limitations in randomized experiments? This seminar will address these questions and in the process cover a number of key topics for the effective use of experiments in political science research, including: How to design an experiment using Qualtrics; How to pre-register hypotheses at EGAP; How to collect responses using internet panels or through crowd-sourcing services; Costs of running different types of experiments; How to download and analyze your data; How to make and publish a replication package on Dataverse. The seminar is designed for those who are considering adding a randomized experimental design to their research tool box. No prior experience or knowledge in randomized experiments is assumed.

About the Presenter:

Yusaku Horiuchi is Professor of Government and Mitsui Professor of Japanese Studies in the Department of Government and Program in Quantitative Social Science at Dartmouth College in the US. Horiuchi earned an M.A. in international and development economics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research and teaching interests include comparative politics (electoral politics, political behavior, public opinion, Japan) and quantitative social science (research design, statistical methods, data visualization). He has articles published or forthcoming in American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, Political Psychology, Political Science Research and Methods, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Science Advances, World Politics, among others.