How do I get a quantitative background?

[Njhasty]

All,

Now that the application season is nearing the end, I have been contemplating what I must do between now and Fall 13' to prepare for a IR doctoral program. I am taking a year off, working a mundane job for 9 hours each day. I've long since decided to spend almost all my free time studying up, but recently I've decided to only focus on the area in which I am the weakest: quantitative research.

I am publishing this post to get feedback from IR students about how I can develop a quantitative background. As an undergrad I took rudimentary statistics and an empirical social science research course. I want to be able to ease into this topic because I am not too comfortable with numbers...

[Quant_Liz_Lemon]

Take some math classes and some applied statistics courses. If there's a local poli sci program, take the grad stats class.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Buy a good statistics book with a mystatlab.

I think mystatlab alone costs about 100 dollars and comes with a ebook and you can learn at home. my uni uses it for most stats classes

[3221]

If you have already applied and are working I wouldn't waste any more money taking more courses. I think most programs start from the ground up but do assume a knowledge of Algebra, basic probability, and Calculus. If anything, I would focus on making sure you are solid on the Calculus. After that enjoy your free time.

[ohgoodness]

Yeah take the quant. methods in social sciences classes and then any data modeling, survival analysis/event-history and basic regression course you can find. You can really separate yourself from the pack by understanding the basics of statistics in social science. After awhile you will come to the understanding that most quantitative projects are poorly constructed, horribly performed and full of errors but have fun

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Yeah take the quant. methods in social sciences classes and then any data modeling, survival analysis/event-history and basic regression course you can find. You can really separate yourself from the pack by understanding the basics of statistics in social science. After awhile you will come to the understanding that most quantitative projects are poorly constructed, horribly performed and full of errors but have fun

love the signature

[gilbertrollins]

If you took an intro stats course, you most likely learned "n>30 good" and the difference between mean, median, and mode. I don't know anything about IR, but if that's a close-to-accurate caricature of your quant experience so far, you need to get comfortable writing more math to be able to handle the graduate work. A lot of getting better at math is just getting comfortable with notational things, and honing your algebraic fluency to the point you can concentrate on the more difficult concepts. To that end, I would get an intermediate stats book (preferably something for engineers where it will be more formal). I would also go through some linear algebra and calculus.

The only way to get over math phobia is exposure. Better to do it now than when your stipend is riding on it.

[ohgoodness]

love the signature

Ditto! (assuming we are talking pet detective..)

Edited December 14, 2012 by cherub