Society for Political Methodology
This page contains information about the Society for Political Methodology, the Political Methodology Section of the American Political Science Association, including the officers, awards, committees, working groups, APSA short courses, and annual calendar. The bylaws may be found here.
Support the Society with your contributions. You can contribute here.
Officers
Society for Political Methodology and APSA Political Methodology Organized Section Officers, 2007-2008- President: Philip A. Schrodt, University of Kansas (2007-2009)
(show/hide past presidents)- 2005-2007, Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, The Ohio State University
- 2003-2005, Simon Jackman, Stanford University
- 2001-2003, Jonathan Nagler, New York University
- 1999-2001, Charles Franklin, University of Wisconsin
- 1997-1999, Gary King, Harvard University
- 1995-1997, James Stimson, University of Minnesota
- 1993-1995, Larry Bartels, Princeton University
- 1991-1993, Henry Brady, University of California, Berkeley
- 1989-1991, John R. Freeman, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- 1987-1989, Stanley Feldman, State University of New York, Stony Brook
- 1985-1987, John E. Jackson, University of Michigan
- 1983-1985, Christopher H. Achen, University of California, Berkeley
- Vice-President: Jeff Gill, Washington University in St. Louis
- Treasurer: Suzanna Linn, Penn State
- Member-At-Large: Brad Jones, UC Davis
- Political Analysis Editor: Christopher Zorn, Pennsylvania State University, 2007-present (vol 15(3)-present)
(show/hide past editors)- 2004-2007 (vol 12-15(2)) Robert S. Erikson, Columbia University
- 2000-2003 (vol 8-11) Nathaniel Beck, University of California, San Diego
- 1998 (vol 7) Walter Mebane, Jr., Cornell University
- 1992-1996 (vol 4-6) John Freeman, University of Minnesota
- 1989-1991 (vol 1-3) James Stimson, University of Iowa
- Webmaster: Andrew D. Martin, Washington University in St. Louis
- TPM Newsletter Editors:
Paul Kellstedt,
Guy Whitten,
Dave Peterson, Texas A&M University
(show/hide past editors)- 2004-2006 (vol 12-14) Adam Berinsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Michael Herron, Dartmouth College; Jeff Lewis, University of California, Los Angeles
- POLMETH Editors:
Melanie Goodrich, New York University, and
Xun Pang, Washington University in St. Louis
(show/hide past editors)- 2007-2009 Melanie Goodrich and Delia Bailey
- 2005-2007 Karen Long Jusko
- 2003-2005 Andrew Martin
- 2002-2003 Karen Long Jusko
Awards
Support these awards with your contributions.The Gosnell Prize
The Gosnell Prize for Excellence in Political Methodology is awarded for the best work in political methodology presented at any political science conference during the preceding year.(show/hide previous recipients)
- 2009 John Freeman, University of Minnesota, and Jeff Gill, Washington University in St. Louis, for Dynamic Elicited Priors for Updating Covert Networks.
- 2009 John Freeman, University of Minnesota, and Jeff Gill, Washington University in St. Louis, for Dynamic Elicited Priors for Updating Covert Networks.
- 2008 Kevin Quinn, Harvard, for What Can be Learned from a Simple Table? Bayesian Inference and Sensitivity Analysis for Causal Effects from 2x2 and 2x2xK Tables in the Presence of Unmeasured Confounding.
- 2007 Alberto Abadie, Alexis Diamond, and Jens Hainmueller, Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science, for Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California's Tobacco Control Program.
- 2006 Kevin M. Quinn, Harvard, Burt L. Monroe, Michigan State, Michael Penn Colaresi, Michigan State, Michael Crespin, University of Georgia, and Dragomir R. Radev, University of Michigan, for An Automated Method of Topic-Coding Legislative Speech Over Time With Application to the 105th-108th U.S. Senate.
- 2005 Alexis Diamond, Harvard, and Jasjeet S. Sekhon, UC Berkeley, for Genetic Matching for Estimating Causal Effects: A General Multivariate Matching Method for Achieving Balance in Observational Studies.
- 2004 Henry Brady, UC Berkeley, and John McNulty, UC Berkeley, for A "Natural Experiment" on the Costs of Voting: Methodologies for Analyzing Observational Data when the Treatment is Nearly Randomized.
- 2003 Won-Ho Park, University of Michigan, for Estimation of Voter Transition Rates and Ecological Inference.
- 2002 Janet Box-Steffensmeier, The Ohio State University, and Suzanna De Boef, Pennsylvania State University, for A Monte Carlo Analysis for Recurrent Events Data.
- 2001 Andrew D. Martin, Washington University, and Kevin M. Quinn, University of Washington, for Bayesian Learning about Ideal Points of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 1953-1999.
- 2000 Curtis S. Signorino, University of Rochester, and Kuzey Yilmaz, University of Rochester, for Strategic Misspecification in Discrete Choice Models.
- 1999 Nathaniel Beck, UC San Diego, Gary King, Harvard University, and Langche Zeng, Harvard University (on leave from GWU), for Improving Quantitative Studies of International Conflict: A Conjecture.
- 1998 Dean Lacy, The Ohio State University, for A Theory of Nonseparable Preferences in Survey Responses.
- 1997 Gary King, Harvard University, for A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior From Aggregate Data.
- 1996
- Nathaniel Beck, UCSD, and Richard Tucker, Indiana, for Conflict in Space and Time: Time-Series-Cross-Section Analysis with a Binary Dependent Variable.
- Walter R. Mebane, Jr., Cornell University, and Jonathan Wand, Cornell University, for Markov Chain Models for Rolling Cross-section Data: How Campaign Events and Political Awareness Affect Vote Intentions and Partisanship in the United States and Canada.
- 1995
- Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, The Ohio State University, Renee Smith, University of Rochester, for The Microfoundations of Aggregate Partisanship.
- Bradley Palmquist, Harvard University, for Respecification Approaches to Ecological Inference: A Comparison of Control Variables and the Quadratic Model.
The Miller Prize
The Miller Prize for is awarded for the best work appearing in Political Analysis that year.(show/hide previous recipients)
- 2008 Daniel E. Ho, Stanford University, Kosuke Imai, Princeton University, Gary King, Harvard University, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Johns Hopkins University, for Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reduced Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference. (Vol 15(3): 199-236)
- 2008 Daniel E. Ho, Stanford University, Kosuke Imai, Princeton University, Gary King, Harvard University, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Johns Hopkins University, for Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reduced Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference. (Vol 15(3): 199-236)
- 2007 Frederick J. Boehmke, University of Iowa, for The Influence of Unobserved Factors on Position Timing and Content in the NAFTA Vote. (Vol 14: 430-446)
- 2006 Robert J, Franzese, Jr., University of Michigan, for Empirical Strategies for Various Manifestations of Multilevel Data. (Vol 13: 430-446)
- 2005 David W. Nickerson, University of Notre Dame, for Scalable Protocols Offer Efficient Design for Field Experiments. (Vol 13: 233-252)
- 2004 David K. Park, Andrew Gelman, Columbia University, and Joseph Bafumi, Columbia University for Bayesian Multilevel Estimation with Poststratification: State-Level Estimates from National Polls. (Vol 12: 375-385)
- 2003 Jeffrey B. Lewis and Kenneth A. Schultz, UCLA, for Revealing Preferences: Empirical Estimation of a Crisis Bargaining Game with Incomplete Information. (Vol 11: 345-367)
- 2002 Patrick Heagerty, University of Washington, Michael D. Ward, University of Washington, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, UCSD, for Windows of Opportunity: Window Subseries Empirical Variance Estimators in International Relations. (Vol 10: 304-317)
- 2001 Keith T. Poole, University of Houston, for The Geometry of Multidimensional Quadratic Utility in Models of Parliamentary Roll Call Voting. (Vol 9: 211-226)
- 2000 John Londregan, UCLA, for Estimating Legislator's Preferred Points. (Vol 8: 35-56)
The John T. Williams Dissertation Prize
In recognition of John T. Williams' contribution to graduate training, the John T. Williams Award has been established for the best dissertation proposal in the area of political methodology.(show/hide previous recipients)
- 2009 Xun Pang, Washington University in St. Louis, for A Bayesian Probit Hierarchical Model with AR(p) Errors and Non-nested Clustering: Studying Sovereign Creditworthiness and Political Institutions.
- 2009 Xun Pang, Washington University in St. Louis, for A Bayesian Probit Hierarchical Model with AR(p) Errors and Non-nested Clustering: Studying Sovereign Creditworthiness and Political Institutions.
- 2008 Justin Grimmer, Harvard University, for A Bayesian Hierarchical Topic Model for Political Texts: Measuring and Explaining Legislator's Express Agenda.
- 2007 Arthur Spirling, University of Rochester, for Bringing Intuition to Fruition: 'Turning Points' and 'Power' in Political Methodology.
- 2006 Roman Ivanchenko, The Ohio State University, for Interactions Between the Supreme-Court and Congress: A Different Look at the Decision-Making Process.
The SPM Poster Award
The Society for Political Methodology Poster Award is given for the best poster presented at the annual summer Methodology Meeting.(show/hide previous recipients)
- 2008 Xun Pang, Washington University in St Louis, for Binary and Ordinal Time Series with AR(p) Errors: Bayesian Model Determination for Latent High-Order Markovian Processes.
- 2008 Xun Pang, Washington University in St Louis, for Binary and Ordinal Time Series with AR(p) Errors: Bayesian Model Determination for Latent High-Order Markovian Processes.
- 2007
- Daniel Hopkins, Harvard University, for Flooded Communities: Using the Post-Katrina Migration as a Quasi-Experiment.
- Aya Kachi, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for The Empirical Implications of a Theoretical Model on Coalition Bargaining and Governmental Survival.
- 2006 Jong Hee Park, Washington University in St Louis, for Modeling Structural Changes: Bayesian Estimation of Multiple Changepoint Models and State Space Models.
- 2005
- Michael Kellermann, Harvard University, for Bayesian estimation of ideal points in the British House of Commons using Early Day Motions.
- Betsy Sinclair, CalTech, for Is It Better to Be First or Last? The Ballot Order Effect.
- 2004
- Marisa Abrajano, New York University, for All Style and No Substance? Campaign Advertising for Anglos and Latinos in the U.S.
- Gabriel Lenz, Princeton, for Testing for Priming in Two-wave Panels: A Reanalysis of Three Studies Finds Little Evidence of Issue Opinion Priming and Some Evidence of Issue Opinion Change.
- 2003
- Hyeok Yong Kwon, Cornell University, for Has Economic Insecurity Produced Left-Wing Voters? A Markov Chain Approach
- Sona Nadenichek Golder, New York University, for Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation
- 2002 Sunshine Hillygus, Stanford University, for The Dynamics of Voter Decision-making in Election 2000.
- 2001 Joshua D. Clinton, Stanford University, for Representation and the 106th Congress: Legislators' Voting Behavior and their Geographic and Party Constituencies.
- 2000 Jake Bowers, University of California, Berkeley, for Sample Design for Studying Congressional Elections.
- 1999 Kevin Clarke, University of Michigan, for Testing Nonnested Models of the Democratic Peace.
- 1998 Adam Berinsky, University of Michigan, for The Two Faces of Public Opinion.
The Political Methodology Career Achievement Award
(show/hide previous recipients)- 2009 James A. Stimson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
(show/hide citation)
Stimson led a major intellectual conceptualization of the field with his work on time-series and particularly on the analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data and designs. His substantive work on issue evolution inspired his important AJPS paper on "Regression in Space and Time." This paper initiated a very large body of innovative methodological and applied work, much of which is still being explored. The reach of this work expands beyond Stimson's own field of American politics and is now a fixture in comparative politics and international relations, where the paper has been cited in scholarship ranging from work explaining the number of parties in Argentina to work exploring the determinants of international trade. His work with aggregate time-series data stimulated many important methodological and substantive discussions and papers and was one of the first uses of Box-Jenkins time series methods in Political Science. Stimson originated and provided definition and direction for the use and understanding of these methods in the field.
His work with Edward Carmines on issue evolution and the long-term connection between parties, the mass public, and representation has had a tremendous impact. His solo work on the nature of public opinion and public policy mood reshaped how scholars think about public opinion. His collaboration with Michael MacKuen and Robert Erikson on The Macro Polity challenged the conventional wisdom on partisanship and extant understandings about the link between economics and politics. His work on public mood led him to create the time series measurement algorithm CALC which has been used by numerous other scholars for their own applications. For The Macro Polity, Stimson and his collaborators were early pioneers in work with the DYMIMIC estimator to model the dynamic link between time series with multiple indicators. On the measurement side, his public mood scale is the most widely used measure of public liberalism across time at the macro-level.
Stimson's work has been widely recognized and has received numerous prestigious awards. His book, Issue Evolution, with Carmines received the Kammerer Award in 1990 as the APSA's best book in American politics; Tides of Consent received the 2006 Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center at the John F. Kennedy School for the best book on politics, the press and public affairs; in 1996 he shared the Heinz Eulau prize for the best paper published in the APSR the previous year; and in 2005 he shared the McGraw-Hill Award for the best paper published on law and courts. In 2000 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His scholarly work is widely praised, and the breadth of topics is impressive.
Stimson has served the Society in almost every way possible. Jim attended the first Summer Political Methodology Workshop in Ann Arbor in July, 1984. This workshop laid the foundation for the Society for Political Methodology and the now twenty-six year long series of summer conferences that have grown from fifteen to three hundred participants. He served as the organization's president from 1995-1997.
Stimson is also responsible for one of the Society's most important institutions. He was the original editor of our very successful journal, Political Analysis. His work to establish Political Analysis as a major journal at a time when the organization barely existed and then his editorial leadership for the first three issues created the journal we now have and value. His vision for the journal and his incredible energy, patience, and persistence are evident in the journal's reputation and impact.
Finally, Stimson has been a tremendously successful mentor and collaborator in the field.
We are so grateful to Stimson for all of this work.
- 2009 James A. Stimson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
(show/hide citation)
Stimson led a major intellectual conceptualization of the field with his work on time-series and particularly on the analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data and designs. His substantive work on issue evolution inspired his important AJPS paper on "Regression in Space and Time." This paper initiated a very large body of innovative methodological and applied work, much of which is still being explored. The reach of this work expands beyond Stimson's own field of American politics and is now a fixture in comparative politics and international relations, where the paper has been cited in scholarship ranging from work explaining the number of parties in Argentina to work exploring the determinants of international trade. His work with aggregate time-series data stimulated many important methodological and substantive discussions and papers and was one of the first uses of Box-Jenkins time series methods in Political Science. Stimson originated and provided definition and direction for the use and understanding of these methods in the field.
His work with Edward Carmines on issue evolution and the long-term connection between parties, the mass public, and representation has had a tremendous impact. His solo work on the nature of public opinion and public policy mood reshaped how scholars think about public opinion. His collaboration with Michael MacKuen and Robert Erikson on The Macro Polity challenged the conventional wisdom on partisanship and extant understandings about the link between economics and politics. His work on public mood led him to create the time series measurement algorithm CALC which has been used by numerous other scholars for their own applications. For The Macro Polity, Stimson and his collaborators were early pioneers in work with the DYMIMIC estimator to model the dynamic link between time series with multiple indicators. On the measurement side, his public mood scale is the most widely used measure of public liberalism across time at the macro-level.
Stimson's work has been widely recognized and has received numerous prestigious awards. His book, Issue Evolution, with Carmines received the Kammerer Award in 1990 as the APSA's best book in American politics; Tides of Consent received the 2006 Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center at the John F. Kennedy School for the best book on politics, the press and public affairs; in 1996 he shared the Heinz Eulau prize for the best paper published in the APSR the previous year; and in 2005 he shared the McGraw-Hill Award for the best paper published on law and courts. In 2000 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His scholarly work is widely praised, and the breadth of topics is impressive.
Stimson has served the Society in almost every way possible. Jim attended the first Summer Political Methodology Workshop in Ann Arbor in July, 1984. This workshop laid the foundation for the Society for Political Methodology and the now twenty-six year long series of summer conferences that have grown from fifteen to three hundred participants. He served as the organization's president from 1995-1997.
Stimson is also responsible for one of the Society's most important institutions. He was the original editor of our very successful journal, Political Analysis. His work to establish Political Analysis as a major journal at a time when the organization barely existed and then his editorial leadership for the first three issues created the journal we now have and value. His vision for the journal and his incredible energy, patience, and persistence are evident in the journal's reputation and impact.
Finally, Stimson has been a tremendously successful mentor and collaborator in the field.
We are so grateful to Stimson for all of this work.
- 2008 John Jackson, University of Michigan.
(show/hide citation)
John was at the forefront in the establishment of the field. Long before most were aware of what political methodology was about, John was extremely active, bringing scholars together and laying the foundation for work to come. John was publishing high quality statistical analyses in the APSR in the early 1970s, and his influential text "Statistical Methods for Social Scientists," coauthored with Eric Hanushek in 1977, is still considered one of the best. Likewise, John's pioneering empirical work showed that party identification need not be seen as an essentially permanent identity learned in childhood. Instead, John demonstrated that partisanship also reflects an accumulation of citizens' adult experiences with the parties -- a perspective that has been built on by many empirical and theoretical scholars, and that has become the most widely accepted view of how partisan identity is formed.
John's record of service to the subfield is equally impressive. He served as the 2nd President of the Society for Political Methodology from 1985-1987, and was instrumental in securing funding for the early meetings from the National Election Studies and later the National Science Foundation. Moreover, John has always been (and continues to be) known for reaching out to graduate students, spending time with them at them at the Political Methodology Meetings and assisting with their integration into the discipline. And, John has been instrumental in the maturation of the subfield in another way, as he has led the charge when it comes to the forging of ties between political methodologists and methodologists in other fields (both in his own collaborations and in institutions) – this has been of fundamental importance to the bettering of the subfield.
John's work has always brought methodological insight to important substantive questions, and he continues to publish state-of-the-art work, having recently co-authored a book on Polish elections ("The Political Economy of Poland's Transition," with Jacek Klich and Krystyna Poznanska). In addition, John is still extremely active in the Society for Political Methodology, being both a regular at the summer meetings and a mentor to many. This year, John's career achievements were recognized in his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, confirming what one eloquent nominator noted: "John is an icon for political methodology."
- 2007 Christopher H. Achen, Princeton University.
(show/hide citation)
Christopher H. Achen is the inaugural recipient of the Career Achievement Award of the Society for Political Methodology. Achen is the Roger William Straus Professor of Social Sciences in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics, at Princeton University. He was a founding member and first president of the Society for Political Methodology, and has held faculty appointments at the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester, and Yale University. He has a Ph.D. from Yale, and was an undergraduate at Berkeley.
In the words of one of the many colleagues writing to nominate Achen for this award, "Chris more or less made the field of political methodology". In a series of articles and books now spanning some thirty years, Achen has consistently reminded us of the intimate connection between methodological rigor and substantive insights in political science. To summarize (and again, borrowing from another colleague's letter of nomination), Achen's methodological contributions are "invariably practical, invariably forceful, and invariably presented with clarity and liveliness". In a series of papers in 1970s, Chris basically showed how us how to do political methodology, elegantly demonstrating how methodological insights are indispensable to understanding a phenomenon as central to political science as representation. Achen's "little green Sage book", Interpreting and Using Regression (1982) has remained in print for 25 years, and has provided generations of social scientists with a compact yet rigorous introduction to the linear regression model (the workhorse of quantitative social science), and is probably the most widely read methodological book authored by a political methodologist. Achen's 1983 review essay "Towards Theories of Data: The State of Political Methodology" set an agenda for the field that still powerfully shapes both the practice of political methodology and the field's self-conception. Achen's 1986 book The Statistical Analysis of Quasi-Experiments provides a brilliant exposition of the statistical problems stemming from non-random assignment to "treatment", a topic very much in vogue again today. Achen's 1995 book with Phil Shivley, Cross-Level Inference, provides a similarly clear and wise exposition of the issues arising when aggregated data are used to make inferences about individual behavior ("ecological inference"). A series of papers on party identification -- an influential 1989 conference paper, "Social Psychology, Demographic Variables, and Linear Regression: Breaking the Iron Triangle in Voting Research" (Political Behavior, 1992) and "Parental Socialization and Rational Party Identification" (Political Behavior, 2002) -- have helped formalize the "revisionist" theory of party identification outlined by Fiorina in his 1981 Retrospective Voting book, and now the subject of a lively debate among scholars of American politics.
In addition to being a productive and extremely influential scholar, Achen has an especially distinguished record in training graduate students in methodology, American politics, comparative politics, and international relations. His students at Berkeley in the late 1970s and early 1980s included Larry Bartels (now at Princeton), Barbara Geddes (UCLA), Steven Rosenstone (Minnesota), and John Zaller (UCLA), among many others. His students at Michigan in the 1990s include Bear Braumoeller (now at Harvard), Ken Goldstein (Wisconsin), Simon Hug (Texas-Austin), Anne Sartori (Princeton), and Karen Long Jusko (Stanford). In addition to being the founding president of the Society for Political Methodology, Chris has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, has served as a member of the APSA Council, has won campus-wide awards for both research and teaching, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Statistical Software Award
The Best Statistical Software Award recognizes individual(s) for developing statistical software that makes a significant research contribution.(show/hide previous recipients)
- 2009 Keith Poole, University of California, San Diego, and Howard Rosenthal, New York University, for NOMINATE.
- 2008 Xun Pang, Washington University in St Louis, for Binary and Ordinal Time Series with AR(p) Errors: Bayesian Model Determination for Latent High-Order Markovian Processes.
Section Committees
- Annual Meeting Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(3 year commitment with rotation)
The purpose of the committee is to institutionalize what we do well at the meeting and to further innovate as needed for the meeting. The committee will help systematically consider and respond to suggestions, comments, and NSF Program reviews. The committee also collects information such as the budget and edits a document that can be passed on to the next host of the meeting. The committee serves as a sounding board and source of collective wisdom for planning the meeting. The committee is made up of previous and future hosts. There are separate committees that determine the paper presenters and select graduate students to attend the meeting.- Tom Carsey, chair (2005 host)
- Suzie DeBoef (2007 host)
- Jeff Gill (2006 host)
- Simon Jackman (2004 host)
- John Freeman (2003 host)
-
Program Committee for the annual meeting
(show/hide details and membership)
(chair servers for 2 years)
The Program Committee selects and invites papers for the Society for Political Methodology's Annual Meeting. They work with and implement suggestions made by the Annual Meeting Committee. The chair of the committee puts the final program together.- 2007: Becky Morton (chair), Suzanna DeBoef, Kevin Quinn, Jake Bowers, Burt Monroe
- 2006: Becky Morton (chair), Jeff Gill, Brad Jones, Jas Sekhon
- Graduate Student Selection Committee for the annual meeting
(show/hide details and membership)
(2 year terms, staggered)
The Graduate Student Selection Committee selects and invites graduate students to attend the Society for Political Methodology's Annual Meeting. The students selected are eligible for National Science Foundation funding and present their work at the poster session at the annual meeting. The committee works with and implement suggestions made by the Annual Meeting Committee with respect to the graduate student experience at the meeting, such as mentoring opportunities.- 2007: Dan Wood (chair), Michele Claiborne, David Darmofal, Kevin Clarke
- 2005: Dan Wood (chair), Michele Claiborne, Jeff Gill, Kosuke Imai
- Best Poster Award Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(chair serves for 2 years)
The Society for Political Methodology Poster Award is given for the best poster presented at the annual summer Methodology Meeting, which is held in late July. The winner is announced at the end of the meeting but the presentation of the award does not occur until the following calendar year's Political Methodology Section's business meeting at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting due to a July 1st deadline from APSA.- 2007: Andrew Whitford (chair), Cherie Maestas, Tobin Grant, Michael Bailey, Kathy Powers
- 2006: Andrew Whitford (chair), Jake Bowers, Kris Kanthak, Luke Keele, David Kimball, Matthew Lebo
- Gosnell Prize Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(chair serves for 2 years)
The Gosnell Prize is given for the best work presented at a conference between May 1st through April 30th. The winner is selected by May 30th and the prize is awarded at the Political Methodology Section's business meeting held at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting.- 2007: Michael Ward (chair), Michael Crespin (winner from previous year), Patrick Brandt
- 2006: Michael Ward (chair), Alexis Diamond (winner from previous year), Robert Luskin
- John T. Williams Dissertation Prize Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(chair serves for 2 years)
In recognition of John T. Williams' contribution to graduate training, the John T. Williams Award has been established for the best dissertation proposal in the area of political methodology. Proposals using quantitative or qualitative methods are welcomed. Proposals are due May 1st and should follow National Science Foundation format guidelines.- 2007: John Aldrich (chair), Michael Colaresi, Tse-Min Lin
- 2006: John Aldrich (co-chair), Virginia Gray (co-chair), Patrick Brandt, Burt Monroe
- Miller Prize Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(chair serves for 2 years)
The Miller Prize is given for the best article published in Political Analysis for the preceding calendar year (ex., 2005 to make the July 1st 2006 deadline). The winner is selected by May 30th and the prize awarded at the Political Methodology Section's business meeting held at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting.- 2007: Brian Pollins (chair), Robert Franzese (winner from previous year), William Berry
- 2006: Brian Pollins (chair), David Nickerson (winner from previous year), Stanley Feldman
- Diversity Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(2 year commitment, staggered terms)
The Diversity Committee's mission is: a) to promote and facilitate diversity within the section, especially with regard to women and other minorities; b) to improve the professional visibility of women and other minorities within the political methodology field; and c) to monitor and provide oversight with respect to these goals.- 2007: Caroline Tolbert (chair),
Susan Banducci,
Janet Box-Steffensmeier,
Claudine Gay,
Liz Gerber,
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell
- Webmaster: Regina Branton
- 2006: Caroline Tolbert (chair),
Susan Banducci,
Janet Box-Steffensmeier,
Claudine Gay,
Liz Gerber,
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell
- Webmaster: Regina Branton
- 2007: Caroline Tolbert (chair),
Susan Banducci,
Janet Box-Steffensmeier,
Claudine Gay,
Liz Gerber,
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell
- Long Range Planning Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(3 year commitment, staggered terms)
The Long Range Planning Committee is charged with planning for the growth and institutionalization of the section. The committee is charged with looking 5, 10, and 20 years ahead to see how we can continue our reputation of innovating for the betterment of the section.- 2008: Gary King (chair)
- 2007: James Granato (chair), Christopher Achen, John Freeman, Guillermina Jasso, Gary King, Corrine McConnaughy, William Reed
- 2006: James Granato (chair), Christopher Achen, John Freeman, Guillermina Jasso, Gary King, Corrine McConnaughy, William Reed
- Nominations Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(2 year terms, staggered terms)
The nominations committee provides one nomination for each elective office to be filled. A prospective candidate for elective office of the Association must become a dues-paying member upon filing for office. The Nominating Committee shall make its report to the President by May 30. The Chair of the Nominating Committee or his or her designee shall present the Committee's slate of nominees to the Annual Business Meeting.- 2008: William Jacoby, Meg Shannon
- 2007: Larry Bartels (chair), William Jacoby, Meg Shannon, Christopher Zorn
- 2006: Larry Bartels (chair), Nancy Burns, Jon Pevehouse, Christopher Zorn
- Publications Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(Political Analysis and The Political Methodologist; 3 year rotation commitment)
The Publications Committee is an advisory board concerning publication of Political Analysis and The Political Methodologist. The committee is charged with overseeing and negotiating the contract with the publisher of Political Analysis and nominating and contacting potential future editors for both publications. These two publications are vitally important to the section's membership.- 2008: Phil Schrodt (chair), Robert Erikson, Jonathan Katz
- 2007: Phil Schrodt (chair), Neal Beck, Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Robert Erikson, Michael Herron, Jonathan Katz
- 2006: Phil Schrodt (chair), Neal Beck, Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Robert Erikson, Michael Herron, Jonathan Katz
- Section Head for the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting
(show/hide details and membership)
Organizes the allotted panels for the Section at the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting.
- 2008 meeting: Jude Hays
- 2007 meeting: Greg Wawro
- 2006 meeting: Langche Zeng
- Working Group Coordinators for the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting
(show/hide details and membership)
- 2006 meeting: Ken Cousins (Social Network Analysis), Rebecca Morton (Experiments), Stephen Purpura (Automated Content Analysis)
- Oxford's Centenary Celebrations Award Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
(ad hoc committee)
Oxford University Press is creating a collection of the 100 greatest journal articles published by Oxford as part of celebrating "100 years of Journals Publishing." This committee will select two articles from Political Analysis for nomination and consideration for inclusion in this collection. The deadline for nominations is March 10, 2006. - Political Methodology Career Award Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
The Political Methodology Career Award is given to recognize an outstanding career of intellectual accomplishment and service to the profession in the Political Methodology field.
- 2007: Simon Jackman (chair), Elisabeth Gerber, Marco Steenbergen, R. Michael Alvarez
- Undergraduate and Graduate Methodology Committee
(show/hide details and membership)
- 2007: Lonna Atkeson (chair), Garrett Glasgow, Paul Gronke, Dean Lacy, Alan Zuckerman
- 2006: Lonna Atkeson (chair), Garrett Glasgow, Paul Gronke, Dean Lacy, Alan Zuckerman
Working Groups
- Experiments, Causality, and the Study of Politics
(show/hide details and membership)
This working group will consider new ways that experiments can be used to address causal questions of interest to traditional political scientists. We will attend a selection of panels and poster sessions of two types: ones where experiments will be discussed and ones on topics suggested by the group members that have not been addressed experimentally but potentially might. We will meet to discuss both design and validity issues relevant to both existing experimental work and possible new ways of thinking of old topics using experiments.
- 2007: Rick Wilson (coordinator)
APSA Short Courses
- 2007
- Creating Powerful and Effective Graphic Displays, William Jacoby
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This short course will cover methods for producing visual displays of quantitative information, using the Lattice package within the R statistical computing environment. The session will begin with a brief discussion of the principles underlying effective graphical displays and a tour of some specific graphical methods for univariate, bivariate, and multivariate data. But, most of the course will be devoted to the R functions for reading data and constructing various kinds of graphs (including histograms, smoothed histograms, dot plots, scatterplots, and trellis displays). We also will cover many "tips and tricks" for customizing graphs to fit specific data analysis situations.
- Applied Political Network Analysis, Paul Thurner
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This course introduces to the practice of political network analysis. Contrary to most introductions to social network analysis, all empirical examples will be drawn from political science contexts: bureaucratic networks, networks of political communication, co-membership in committees and organizations, contract networks, trade flows, etc. Special attention will be given to the analysis of within-governmental and transgovernmental networks of ministerial bureaucracies.
- Creating Powerful and Effective Graphic Displays, William Jacoby
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Annual Calendar for the Section
| January 31 | Proposals to host political methodology meeting due (if year = t, proposals for t+1) | |
| February 1 | Call for proposals for the Society for Political Methodology's annual summer meeting | |
| March 1 | Deadline for proposals/applications to attend the Society for Political Methodology's annual summer meeting | |
| Deadline for applications for the John T. Williams Dissertation Prize | ||
| April 20 | Notification by this date of proposal/attendance acceptance | |
| June 1 | All award committees need to report to the Section President with the winners. | |
| June 15 | To ensure Section award winners are included in the Annual Meeting Program, the name, institutional affiliation of the winner, as well as the title of their piece and any publication information (if applicable), must be delivered to the Organized Section Liaison at sections@apsanet.org. | |
| July (typically around the 3rd weekend of the month) |
Society for Political Methodology's annual summer meeting. To attend, all faculty must be a member of the section. |
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| July 30 | Treasurer's Expense report for July 1st through June 30th due to APSA for the previous year | |
| September (Labor Day weekend) |
Section business meeting at APSA. Vote on slate of officers, by-law changes, secretary-treasurer's report, update on the newsletter and journal, and give awards. | |
| September 15 | Section update form due, including list of section award committee members | |
| October 1 | Call for political methodology meeting host proposals (if year = t, proposals for t+2) | |
| November 15 | Letter of interest for hosting political methodology meeting due |
