Choose concepts and evidence
The Research Design Studio guides students through theoretical claims, variables, indicators, and comparisons.
Open Studio ↗Laura D. Young / Teaching Portfolio
How students learn to think with evidence.
From campus observation to a defensible research design—and from AI suggestions back to independent judgment.
Applied political inquiry
Field methods. Real methodological choices.
Classroom exercises connect the abstract language of variables, indicators, sampling, and explanation to things students can observe and question.
Begin with an observation. End with a testable question.
Students begin with a public setting or social interaction, record what is observable, and consider what the evidence might mean. They separate a dependent variable from plausible explanations and controls, then decide whether a survey question, observation protocol, or existing dataset could meaningfully capture the concept.
That sequence lets students experience what social scientists do long before they encounter formal models: specify, compare, question, and revise. We also discuss what cannot be generalized from a small or convenient sample.
Methods in focus: Observation protocols · Operationalization · Question wording · Sampling limits · Rival explanations
Interactive research practice
From a rough question to a defensible study.
The actual online tools expose methodological reasoning instead of substituting for it.
Interrogate the design
The assignment builder flags missing steps in design and sampling plans, including coverage and nonresponse risks.
Open builder ↗Ask a tutor, not a ghostwriter
The homework coach helps students diagnose confusion and make better decisions while maintaining authorship.
Open tutor ↗Advanced seminar
AI can criticize an outline. It cannot own the argument.
In Senior Seminar, students may use AI to explore the organization of a literature-review outline, identify a gap in their reasoning, or test how themes connect. They submit their revised outline alongside the interaction record and a short statement of what they accepted, rejected, and changed.
I am interested in practices that teach students to evaluate the system's suggestions—including unsupported references—rather than merely produce smoother-looking prose.
More on teaching and mentoring ↗