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undergraduate research: an apprenticeship approach to teaching political science methods

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Abstract

Undergraduate research, the practice of teaching students by engaging them in a research project, has a long record of achievement. Research-based evaluations show it is likely to have a range of positive educational and career outcomes for students. Many examinations of these benefits apply to STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This article sets out one approach to undergraduate research in political science, based on an apprenticeship model. Using a small survey of all those who have followed the GV314 course at the London School of Economics since 2004 the article finds evidence that the benefits of undergraduate research appear to be quite striking outside STEM subjects too.

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Notes

  1. This is somewhat more specific than the term ‘research-led teaching’ or ‘research led learning’ which became a popular term in the United Kingdom after the early 2000s where it seemed to have a much vaguer meaning to include the unremarkable practice of university teachers using ‘examples from their own research in their teaching practice’ (Patrick et al, 2011).

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Carolyn M. Shaw of Wichita State University for her constructive comments on the paper. I am also grateful to George Edwards, Claire Gordon and Martin Lodge (LSE) and Philip Cowley (Nottingham) for their help and advice. I thank the students who have taken GV314 over the years for responding to the survey. An earlier version of this article was presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, August 2014.

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  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

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page, e. undergraduate research: an apprenticeship approach to teaching political science methods. Eur Polit Sci 14, 340–354 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2015.17

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