Political Science 391GH - InvestigIntrstGroupPower/USPol

Open to Seniors & Juniors and Commonwealth Honors College Sophomores. In this hands-on research course, students will question the role and influence of interest groups in American politics today. A significant portion of this class will involve a group-based research project where students will develop a set of criteria to evaluate (1) the quality of interest group representation and (2) the power of each interest group. Each student will conduct an in-depth examination of one interest group with the help of this framework; the class will then jointly engage in a comparative analysis of all of the organizations. Through this project, students will learn important skills such as how to analyze documents, conduct elite interviews, and collect, code and analyze data.