Short Course: Genomic Data and Models for Political Science

Genomic Data and Models for Political Science

Marcus Alexander
1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

This is a methods workshop about genomics and its use in model estimation in political science.

The workshop is designed for graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty who are interested in incorporating genomic data sources into their work, or those who are already engaged in such research. Upon completion of the workshop, all of the participants will have a better substantive and methodological understanding of genomic science, and the main tools to incorporate genomics into their political science research.

Participants with prior knowledge of statistics, data structures/data science, object-oriented programming, and political methodology will benefit the most from the workshop, but there are no pre-requisites and prior knowledge of genetics is not assumed.

The topics covered include: (1) collecting and profiling the human genome, transcriptome and microbiome; (2) microarray and sequence data structures; (3) mining and modelling genomic data; (4) integration of genomic data with standard political science data; (5) using genomics for causal inference in political science; (6) ethics of genomics research within political science. The workshop combines lectures with illustrations using Bioconductor in R and actual data. Practical advice will also be given regarding Human Subjects and institutional IRB review of social science research using genomic analysis. At the conclusion of the workshop, the participants will be provided with a short overview of resources for genomics research, including available public and private genomic data sources.

**All Short Courses will take place on Wednesday, August 29 at the APSA 2018 Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.**