Approaches & Methods | Department of Political Science

We study and teach a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches to and methodologies for conducting political inquiry. Our areas of expertise include computational social science, field research, political ethnography, the analysis of political text, public opinion polling, survey experiments, elite interviews, comparative case studies, social network analysis, topic modeling, the philosophy of social science. In addition to using and developing methodological tool-kits, we also critically analyze them, and embrace projects that blend and fuse different ways of knowing at science's cutting edge.

Maryann Barakso

My primary research interests include U.S. and transnational interest group/NGO governance, interest groups and health care politics, U.S. social movements, civic engagement, American political development, and women in politics. I employ qualitative and quantitative methods, including observational and experimental survey analysis.Read more

Angélica María Bernal

Angélica Maria Bernal is Associate Professor of Political Science at UMass Amherst and faculty affiliate with the Center for Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research and teaching focus on issues of popular power, constitutional change, decolonial theory and politics, and indigenous social movements and resistance in...Read more

Charli Carpenter

My teaching and research interests include the politics of war law, transnational advocacy networks, protection of civilians, humanitarian disarmament, and the role of popular culture in global human security policy. I have a particular interest in the gap between intentions and outcomes among advocates of human security. I work with...Read more

Paul M. Collins, Jr.

His research focuses on understanding bias and inequality in the American legal system, particularly in the behavior of actors like judges, legislators, presidents, the media, and interest groups.

I have published articles in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Law and Courts, Journal of Politics, Law...Read more

Justin H. Gross

My research interests include U.S. and comparative ideologies, political communication in mass and social media, public opinion, and the intersection of identity and political beliefs. I have worked on methodological problems in measurement, text analysis, and network analysis, but I am especially interested in methods that put statistical and computational tools to use...Read more

Peter M. Haas

My research interests include international relations, international relations theory, international political economy, international environmental politics, international institutions, the science-policy interface, and global governance.

I am currently developing a research project on global issue coupling and global governance. I am currently a member of the editorial boards of Global Environmental Politics,...Read more

Ray La Raja

Ray La Raja's areas of expertise include political parties, interest groups, campaign finance, elections, political participation, American state and local politics, public policy and political reform. He is co-author with Brian Schaffner and Jesse Rhodes of Hometown Inequality: Race, Class, and Representation in American Local Politics (Cambridge University Press 2020). He...Read more

timothy pachirat

author of every twelve seconds; among wolves; "the tyranny of light;" "dispatches from the kill floor;" "the ethnographer's potion;" "sanctuary;" "we call it a grain of sand;" + others.

Doug Rice

My research centers on judicial policymaking in American politics, with a particular interest in the power of courts in the American policymaking context, and the implications of according policymaking power to judicial institutions in a democratic political system. My work has appeared in The Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Law,...Read more

Meredith Rolfe

Professor Rolfe's research interests include individual & organisational decision-making, media and public opinion, social networks, text analysis, and research methodology.

Prior to joining UMass, Professor Rolfe was a Lecturer in Management at the London School of Economics, and a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Dr...Read more

Jamie Rowen

Dr. Rowen's research focuses on the use of law to redress mass atrocity and aid vulnerable groups. She is the founding director of UMass' Center for Justice, Law, and Societies, www.umasscjls.org and a research affiliate with the UMass Center of Excellence for Specialty Courts. Dr. Rowen's current projects examine the citizen-state relations...Read more

Frederic C. Schaffer

My subfield of specialization is comparative politics and my methodological areas of expertise are interviewing, working with concepts, and interpretivism. Substantively, I study the meaning of democracy, the practice of voting, and the administration of elections. Read more

Regine A. Spector

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I teach comparative political economy, development, energy and Central Asian politics courses. My current research examines New England energy politics and electric grid reform, and the climate implications of our energy and water use...Read more

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