Real data, such as election results, location and type of terrorist attacks, or international trade flows, rarely come in nice, convenient to manage spreadsheets. Most data are not stored in spreadsheets at all. The task of collecting and cleaning the data is frequently upon the data analyst. Time-consuming and challenging as it is, this task need not be tedious and frustrating.
This course introduces students to the fundamental computational tools for cleaning, managing,n storing, analyzing, and presenting political data. The material will enable students to become proficient enough to actively implement the methods and tools in their own research.