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Scope and Objectives
IEM covers a wide range of quantitative reasoning processes pertinent to policy analysis and management. This section of IEM is designed for entering LBJ students with proficiency at the level of passing the summer quantitative diagnostic assessment in one single trial. There is no other prerequisite.
The primary focus in this section is analytic thinking and articulation skills through conceptual reasoning in policy decisions. The mathematical and statistical techniques acquired through this thinking-and-articulation process constitute a secondary learning objective. Students who define quantitative skills as “knowing software for number crunching” will be disappointed. This section does not emphasize the use of software. Nor is “calculating the correct answer” important.
Structure of Contents
This course begins with views on the philosophy of science, followed by five topics:
• Developing perspectives on the role of quantitative analysis in democratic politics
• Modeling policy choices through constrained optimization
• Making decisions in environments of uncertainty and risk
• Guessing truth with bivariate statistical design
• Modeling reality with multivariate regression models
Learning Experiences
This class uses a reverse-classroom format. Required readings are brief. For half of the sessions, class members are expected to complete preparatory problems ahead of time. Classroom discourses are about discovering insights through the discussion of preparatory problems and other policy examples brought up in class.
Also, class members are asked to develop daily news-reading habits, along with the following learning experiences:
• Brief in-class pop quizzes between two to four times in the semester,
• Analytic projects, with group discussion encouraged, twice in the semester,
• Individual-based & time-limited problem-solving once in the semester
• Final assessment in the form of oral interview
Expectation
Abstention from note-taking in class is requested. In exchange the instructor will provide notes after each weekly class session."