Incumbent vote share in contested house elections, 1978 to 2000. (Image courtesy of Prof. Stephen Ansolabehere.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Stephen Ansolabehere
MIT Course Number
17.872
As Taught In
Spring 2004
Level
Graduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course provides students with a rigorous introduction to Statistics for Political Science. Topics include basic mathematical tools used in social science modeling and statistics, probability theory, theory of estimation and inference, and statistical methods, especially differences of means and regression. The course is often taken by students outside of political science, especially those in business, urban studies, and various fields of public policy, such as public health. Examples draw heavily from political science, but some problems come from other areas, such as labor economics.