Building Methodological Skill and Confidence Through CUREs in Political Science

Undergraduate research methods courses often invoke fear and anxiety in many political science students and this trepidation can inhibit learning. However, the importance of understanding and applying various research methodologies to answer important empirical questions is central to promoting the transfer and construction of disciplinary knowledge. Political science undergraduates in the U.S. often get few opportunities to utilize methodological skills through traditional undergraduate research experiences as compared to their peers in the natural sciences where students are often paired with faculty mentors in lab-based research settings. To overcome these hurdles, I experimented with adapting course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) – a teaching strategy commonly employed in natural science disciplines – as a means of strengthening and applying research methodology in the political science curriculum. CUREs activities were integrated into an advanced undergraduate course on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow students to build, reinforce, and practice research skills while gaining content-specific knowledge about the Court. Pre-post surveys of students showed that the CUREs-based experiences increased both perceived methodological skill and comfort levels. These findings support the conclusion that embedding CUREs-based course content in advanced undergraduate political science courses can be an effective way of improving student success with the social science research process.