In social science research, clear rules govern how cases can be chosen, how causation can be inferred, and how disconfirming evidence can be recognized and assessed. This course teaches those rules. Every week, students will learn, apply, and evaluate a research technique. We will discuss how to state a researchable question and how to determine what counts as an answer to that question. We will consider what constitutes valid evidence, how to identify and evaluate alternative explanations for the same event, and how to separate coincidence from cause. Students will do interviews, surveys, archival research, case studies and field studies. The course assumes no statistics, nor will it teach statistics; instead, our focus will be on the other issues involved in conceiving and executing a research project in the social sciences. Class will meet 3 times a week and one class will be a lab. Format: lab. Requirements: weekly papers applying a method or research problem to a topic chosen by the student or class. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing. This course is for juniors and seniors interested in writing a major research paper, and is designed specifically for advanced students doing independent projects, semester-long seminar papers or senior theses. Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 6). Counts for all subfields.