Summer Workshop on Quantitative Methods in Political Science

Summer School on Quantitative Methods in Political Science Research held at Jain University

The fifth Annual Summer School on Quantitative Methods in Political Science Research was held at the Global Campus of Jain University at Bengaluru from 14th to 26th May 2011. The Summer School was jointly organized by Lokniti, CSDS and the Centre for Research in Social Sciences and Education (CERSSE) of Jain University. The first three annual workshops were held by Lokniti in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) at Shimla. The last two workshops have been held at Bengaluru in collaboration with Jain University. Complete institutional and infrastructural support for this workshop was provided by Jain University.

A total of twenty-one research students and lecturers drawn from different Universities and Research Institutions in India participated in the workshop. Few of the participants of the workshop have been associated with Lokniti's research project in various states from time to time as filed investigators.

This summer program has the distinction of retaining its core faulty and adding to it in each subsequent year. The core faculty comprises scholars involved in survey research and quantitative analysis. The faculty was led by Pradeep Chhibber (University of California, Berkeley) and Irfan Nooruddin (Ohio State University, Columbus).

Other resource persons included:

Divya Vaid, Associate Fellow, Lokniti

Kinjal Sampat, Independent researcher, Bengaluru

Rahul Verma, Lokniti

Reetika Sayal, PhD candidate, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru

Sandeep Shastri, Pro Vice Chancellor, Jain University & National Coordinator, Lokniti Network

Sanjay Kumar, Fellow, CSDS and Deputy Director, Lokniti

Sanjeer Alam, Associate Fellow, Lokniti

Siddharatha Swaminathan, Shri R.K. Hegde Chair Professor on Decentralization and Governance at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru

Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow CSDS

Dr R S Deshpande, Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru delivered the keynote opening address and Dr Chenraj Jain, President, Jain University Trust addressed the participants prior to the close of the Workshop.

The curriculum involved hands-on training in the use of quantitative methods in Political Science Research. During the course the participants were taught introductory statistics along with computational analysis. The participants were then required to apply their newly acquired skills and explore a research question based on the National Election Study (NES) 2004 data provided to them. The NES is a cross-section national sample survey that studies the political behavior, opinion and attitudes of the Indian electorate. The 2004 round had a sample size of 27,189. Participants largely examined questions relating to factors influencing socio-political and democratic attitudes; electoral (and more generallypolitical) participation and voting behaviour; and opinions on the economy. At the end of the workshop, participants presented their preliminary findings. All participants are now expected to submit a short research paper within a month in order to receive their certificates of successful completion.

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