PhD Political Science Yale

[westernpolitics]

Any thoughts on Yale's PhD program in political science?  Is it as methodologically diverse as the program's website suggests? 

[GopherGrad]

Yale's program is fantastic.

 

Nowhere is as methodologically diverse as it claims except Berkeley. Be prepared to accept R as your wife, mistress and personal chef.

[chaetzli]

Yale's program is fantastic.

 

Nowhere is as methodologically diverse as it claims except Berkeley. Be prepared to accept R as your wife, mistress and personal chef.

Word.

[RWBG]

Well, some places are as methodologically diverse as claimed by making no claims whatsoever to be methodologically diverse.

 

Also, do you have the code for getting R to generate a meal?

Edited October 8, 2013 by RWBG

[catchermiscount]

Well, some places are as methodologically diverse as claimed by making no claims whatsoever to be methodologically diverse.

 

Also, do you have the code for getting R to generate a meal?

 

I'm a bigger fan of being more methodologically diverse than expected by pretending to be completely methodologically bigoted.  NOT NAMING NAMES HERE OK PEOPLE

[RWBG]

I'm a bigger fan of being more methodologically diverse than expected by pretending to be completely methodologically bigoted.  NOT NAMING NAMES HERE OK PEOPLE

Apropos of nothing, there's an interesting discussion to be had on how being at whatever department you choose shapes your conception of the field. In my own experience, I've found it really easy to think of the range of things we do as largely representative of the field, and to think of the epistemological approach that dominates here as the approach of the field. However, then I hear from people at other programs, and I'm reminded of how different experiences in political science graduate programs can be, and how "methodological diversity" here means something entirely different than it would at another department.

[catchermiscount]

Oh absolutely.  Whenever I go to conferences, it takes me a second or two to readjust.  It's obviously a more pronounced issue than it is at a full-service non-boutique, but I'd have to think it's an issue at all sorts of places.

 

Personally, I have no idea why we keep going on about whether our methods comport with an old, old wooden ship from the Civil War era.

[RWBG]

^Nice.

[GopherGrad]

there's an interesting discussion to be had on how being at whatever department you choose shapes your conception of the field.

 

 

Rather, HOW it shapes your conceptions.

 

Well, some places are as methodologically diverse as claimed by making no claims whatsoever to be methodologically diverse.

 

 

Fair.

[GopherGrad]

GOPHER GRAD'S DOWNHOME R COOKBOOK

 

As an appetizer, consider a zesty bruschetta with parsely and white pepper to punch up the basil:

meetbinom<-function(appetizer,hearty){
    K<-choptomatoes
    tempd<-onions,garlic
    for(k in 0:(n)){
        K[k+1]<-k
        tempd[k+1]<-dbinom(k,n,p)    }
    barplot(tempd,names.arg=K)}
meetbinom(fry, bake)

results<-NA
pool<-c("Tomato","Onion","Basil","OliveOil","Salt")
NumberOfSimulations<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfBreadSlices){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=3)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="parsley")>=1 | sum(sample=="whitepepper")>=1) results<-1
}
table(results)

 

On summer days, I find a pacific style seafood chowder gives you the energy to stare at Marx texts all day without leaving you feeling bloated:

 

results<-NA
pool<-c(rep("coconutmil",8),rep("fishstock",10),rep("currypaste",5))
NumberOfStirs<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfStirs){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=onegallon)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="Snapper")==2 & sum(sample=="Shrimp")==3 & sum(sample=="CrabinaCan")==0) results<-1
}
table(results)

 

For hearty fare, consider seared flank steak with roasted asparagus and a balsamic reduction:

 

normprob<-function(F1=-shallots,T1=flank,
  F2=-1,T2=1,NPOINTS=1000,TITLE="",FNAME=""){
    curve(asparagus,from=counter,to=oven,main=steak)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    pan<-c(steak(EVOO))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+balsamic+orangerind]<-0
    polygon(x,y,border=NULL,col=2)

    postscript(file=paste("norm",FNAME,".ps",sep=""))
    curve(dnorm,from=F1,to=T1,main=TITLE)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    y<-c(dnorm(x))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+2]<-0
    potato(x,y,border=CRISPY,interior=SOFT)
    dev.off()

 

printto->plate

 

 

Enjoy!
 

[catchermiscount]

So, that just happened.

[TheGnome]

I don't see any deserts here though. A meal without a dessert is like a coefficient without confidence intervals

[AmericanQuant]

Any thoughts on Yale's PhD program in political science?  Is it as methodologically diverse as the program's website suggests? 

 

That depends. What sorts of methodologies are you interested in? If you're looking to be a super-quant, I'd say that the other CHYMPS departments are all more diverse in terms of their quantitative methods (read: statistics) training than Yale.  If you want to do Qualitative work, that might be a different story.

[BFB]

Apropos of nothing, there's an interesting discussion to be had on how being at whatever department you choose shapes your conception of the field. In my own experience, I've found it really easy to think of the range of things we do as largely representative of the field, and to think of the epistemological approach that dominates here as the approach of the field. However, then I hear from people at other programs, and I'm reminded of how different experiences in political science graduate programs can be, and how "methodological diversity" here means something entirely different than it would at another department.

 

Absolutely. I actually think that your exposure to the methods (or more accurately, ontologies) that you don't specialize in can be crucial: I've seen a lot of smart people give very narrow talks without having any idea that, from a different ontological perspective, their answers are disastrously bad. That's one of the reasons I like our program so much