Introduction to International Relations Research - SIS 206

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the process and practice of research in the social sciences, with particular attention to the field of International Relations (IR). This course will introduce you to four different “styles” of research arranged around two major points of differentiation (dualism vs. monism, descriptive vs. causal) and provide you with some basic skills training for executing all four styles of research. This is not a “philosophy of social inquiry” class, although we will be discussing several key issues in the philosophy of social inquiry: although the material will at times be rather abstract, the focus in this course is on the application of various social theoretical insights to the study of concrete empirical questions and to the production of knowledge.