Methods and Research Tools (MRT)

The methods and research tools field (MRT) for the POIR program focuses on formal, qualitative, and quantitative techniques that help students to better understand substantive problems in political science. The new field also accommodates advanced language study for those who require those skills for field research. The MRT field to provide better purpose and rigor for methodological training, broadly understood, and is not intended to displace substantive coursework. For those choosing methods and research tools as a field, the coursework will be completed in their first two to three years. The field supplants the previous methods certificate program, and there is significant flexibility for students to customize their coursework to meet field requirements while reflecting their own research interests.

Students concentrating in methods and research tools are required to take POIR 617, along with three other elective methods classes. Three of these four courses must be completed prior to taking the qualifying examination. General program requirements in methods (POIR 610, 611 and an Advanced Methods Elective) do not count toward the four courses required by students who select MRT as an examination field. All courses must be completed with a grade of B or higher. Students are strongly encouraged to complete their course requirements for the field via POIR courses but can petition to complete the requirement using coursework from other departments. For courses listed below that are offered outside of POIR, students will need to seek the permission of the respective faculty and department before registering. We cannot guarantee enrollment permission in courses outside of POIR.
One Core Course

POIR 617: Maximum Likelihood Estimation

*Core courses must be completed prior to qualifying exams.

Three Electives

Any three MRT seminars

*Two electives must be completed prior to qualifying exams.
The list of courses that have been considered MRT are:

POIR 614: Experimental Political Science (Offered Regularly)
POIR 615: Formal Models of Politics
POIR 616: Advanced Quantitative Methods
POIR 617: Maximum Likelihood Estimation (Required)
ANTH 410: Ethnographic Field Methods and Practicum
ANTH 475: Ethnographic Film Analysis
ANTH 562: The Practice of Ethnography
COMM 552: Qualitative Research Methods in Communication
COMM 620: Studies in Communication Theory
CS 570: Analysis of Algorithms
CS 585: Database Systems
CSCI 548: Information Integration on the Web
CSCI 572: Information Retrieval and Web Search Engines
CSCI 587: Geospatial Information Management
CSCI 653: High Performance Computing and Simulation
CSCI 567: Machine Learning
CSCI 573: Probabilistic Reasoning
CSCI 686: Advanced Big Data Analytics
ECON 584: Consulting and Applied Managerial Economics
ECON 601: Microeconomic Theory I
ECON 615: Applied Econometrics
ECON 620: Experimental Methods
EDUC 651: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
HIST 500: Introduction to Graduate Historical Studies
INF 549: Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
INF 552: Machine Learning for Data Informatics
INF 553: Foundations and Applications of Data Mining
INF 554: Information Visualization
ISE 520: Optimization: Theory and Algorithms
MATH 467: Theory and Computational Methods for Optimization
MATH 501: Numerical Analysis and Computation
MATH 505a: Applied Probability
PM 542: Social Network Analysis
PSYC 502L: Analysis of Variance and Experimental Design
PSYC 625: Advanced Big Data Methods
PSYC 575L: Multivariate Analysis of Behavioral Data
SOCI 520: Qualitative Research Methods
SOCI 620: Advanced Methods — Qualitative Research
SOCI 621: Quantitative Methods and Statistics II
SOCI 656: Social Demography

Other methods and research tool courses offered at USC are encouraged and can be approved on a case-by-case basis.
A recommended reading list for the field exam is maintained by the field representative and updated periodically, in consultation with faculty teaching in the field.
The MRT field will have a written exam, in which they answer two questions from a choice of questions that are divided into two sections: one on a common core (e.g. research design, ethics in research, data collection), and one that will allow students to focus on the methods they have selected (e.g. quantitative or qualitative).

The field representative will prepare the examination questions in consultation with the relevant faculty in the field.

The exam will be an open book exam.
Students selecting MRT as their third non-examined field will take three courses in the field, including POIR 617. General program requirements in methods (POIR 610, 611 and an Advanced Methods Elective) do not count toward the three courses required by students who select MRT as a third non-examination field.
An option to complete some of the elective courses using advanced language courses is available to students intending to conduct field research abroad. Language courses at level 4 and above (i.e. ARAB 252, EALC 206) can be counted towards the elective requirement.While some of the language courses at USC that are below the 400 level might fulfill the content requirements of the MRT field, students may need to take additional elective courses at the doctoral level to ensure they meet the required 70 units for the degree. Also, only courses taken during the period that students are enrolled at USC may count, and transfer credit for advanced language courses taken prior to enrolling at USC will not be given.

Core Faculty