GOVT 300 Research Methods and Analysis. Spring 2013. Professor Delton Daigle

There is a perceived misconception about Govt. 300.   The course is not anything specific about government, but an approach to which you study government. 

I must confess.  I enrolled in this class in Spring 2012 and I withdrew from the class because I did not understand the importance of such a class to my major.  However, knowing what to prepare for, I enrolled a year later and passed the class while learning the value of the content that Professor Daigle wanted to teach me before. 

There is so much information, from multivariable analysis to distribution tables, to be told in this course that it can be overwhelming at times. Daigle has teaching assistants for the course in order to provide students support in learning to use SPSS.

While there are many resources available, Daigle believes students have a difficult time adjusting to the structure and content of the course.

“While many students dismiss is it as a stats class, it’s a course about how to use scientific method to study political questions,"Daigle said.

This upcoming fall will the first time he will attempt to offer the class as a distance education course. He is optimistic that the online class will be as effective as in-person teaching and it will include new resources such as short video lectures and tutorials.

From the end-of-semester evaluations, Professor Daigle has learned that Govt. 300 students do not like Govt. 300, which is not a surprise. 

One comment on RateMyProfessor describes how the course seems ambitious in its attempt to push all this information onto the students.

“Any way softer than I currently do is not valuable to the student," Daigle said Despite the fact that he knows he will get lower ratings, his students will get a better value out of the way he structures the class.  

He said, "I think the content is what I need to provide in order to provide a valuable understanding of the research process."

I tried to put the blame on Professor Daigle once, but then I realized that it is that class that is difficult, but not impossible.  Passing this course cleared the doubts in my mind I had on whether or not I should pursue this major.

For that I thank Professor Daigle for giving all of us Govt. 300 students the patience and skill set needed to study the tough issues in world today.