Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Remember the organization of the book and chapters
- Understand that you feedback can help improve the experience for future students
This textbook, Introduction to Political Science Research Methods (IPSRM), is an Open Education Resource (OER) and consists of the following 10 chapters. A team of six political scientists at six different community colleges in California co-authored this Open Education Resource.
Each chapter is structured to include the following seven elements: Chapter Outline, Chapter Sections, Key Terms/Glossary, Summary of each Chapter Section, Review Questions, Critical Thinking Questions, and Suggestions for Further Study.
The Chapter Outline provides a list of the chapter’s sections. You can click on the name of the chapter section to move directly to that section. This outline is important because it quickly and concisely provides you an overview of the chapter and a clear sense of its contents.
The Chapter Sections can be considered the body of the chapter because they collectively include most of the substantive content. While each chapter author has endeavored to write Chapter Sections as stand-alone parts, there will naturally be a flow and integration of the chapters.
Key Terms/Glossary serves as a repository of definitions of key terms used throughout the chapter sections. The key terms are listed in alphabetical order. In some instances, key terms will be linked to external content, such as Dictionary.com or Wikipedia, for students and faculty to explore the term further. Additionally, key terms are linked within chapter sections, meaning you can click on the key term and be directed to Key Terms/Glossary section.
Summary of the chapter provides a one paragraph synopsis of each section of the chapter. The goal is to distill each chapter section into a bite-sized chunk that can be quickly referenced. Each synopsis highlights a major concept of the section and serves as a reference. These should not be viewed as replacements for reading a specific chapter section.
Review Questions include at least 5 questions that could serve as a pop quiz, clicker questions, student self-check, or as part of a question bank used for a summative assessment, such as a traditional midterm of final. In future iterations of the textbook, we plan on creating a Learning Management System Course Shell that would convert these questions in both a Question Bank and Quiz. Similarly, Critical Thinking Questions include at least 3 questions that can serve as a short or long essay prompt for an in-class or at-home assessment.
Finally, Suggestions for Further Study includes links to websites, journal articles, and books related to the chapter topic. The goal is to build a robust repository of resources that can be explored by students and faculty. While we take effort to list OER or other open access content, there will be resources that are currently not freely available. As the textbook expands, this section will grow as well.
It is recommended that the chapters are followed for most coherent use. We recognize, and encouraged, some faculty will want to assign specific chapters to complement an existing textbook adoption. We expect that after the textbook is adopted and utilized, feedback from faculty and students to help us refine the content of each chapter, and the ordering of the materials.
