The graduate concentration in Political Science & Research Methods (PSRM) provides students with the option of emphasizing their methodological development within the Political Science Ph.D. program. The concentration is designed to provide a flexible curriculum that introduces students to both basic and advanced methods for their political science research. PSRM students travel a distinct pathway through their graduate studies, taking a three course sequence in research methods. All PSRM students take an initial core seminar, Research Design, that introduces students to the fundamentals of behavioral research design and provides students with hands-on exposure to a wide range of methods for collecting and analyzing social science data, both qualitative and quantitative.PSRM students then build their methodological skills by choosing two advanced methods courses that fit their substantive research interests. These advanced methods courses cover a diverse array of subjects and approaches, including Survey Design and Analysis, Experiments, Network Analysis, Introduction to Quantitative Analysis, Text-as-Data, Machine Learning, Bayesian Statistics, Interpretation, Ethnography, and a host of other courses offered by UMass’ outstanding faculty in Political Science and other departments.The Department's approach to the discipline of political science is consciously eclectic, based on an assumption that the study of politics cannot be reduced to any one theory or a single set of methods. Mutual appreciation among faculty members with diverse interests and approaches characterizes the intellectual atmosphere of the Department. With more than 30 faculty members, the department covers a wide array of methodologies and research interests, including the study of theory, institutions, political behavior, and political development. UMass-Amherst offers PhD and accelerated MA degrees in six fields of political inquiry: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, Public Policy, and Public Law. In addition, while each field is its own thriving research community, your studies can involve multiple research clusters whose work crosses subfields, including Conflict, Violence and Security, Political Economy, Global Forces, Computational Social Science, and Ambiguities of Democracy. You’ll also choose methods training appropriate to the questions you are asking—from statistical modeling and network analysis to ethnography and textual analysis—and enjoy mentorship by scholars often across diverse subfields and methodological orientations.