PARISS

The Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS) has as its central mission provision of a coherent and integrated understanding of quantitative approaches in the social sciences.

One of Duke's greatest strengths in the social sciences is methodology, and while each social science has its own unique approaches, there is a large overlap in the techniques used by the social science disciplines in the development of formal models, in data collection, in model estimation, and in hypothesis testing. PARISS provides Duke graduate students with an interdisciplinary context in which to develop and apply their methodological skills.

PARISS is home to a graduate certificate in Advanced Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, and hosts a regular Monday evening speaker series presenting innovative social science research during the academic year that all members of the Duke community are invited to attend. The seminar begins at 6:00 p.m. and meets in the Erwin Mill building in room A103. A light dinner is served before the seminar. The full schedule of talks is available on our events calendar.

SPRING 2008 TALK SCHEDULE

January 28
Georg Vanberg & Erik Engstrom, UNC
“The Politics of Congressional Earmarking”

February 4
Harris Cooper, Duke
"Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement?: A Synthesis of Research, 1987-2003"

February 11
John Griffin, Notre Dame
"Political Parties and Democracy: The Case of the American South"

February 18
Hanming Fang, Duke
"Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment"

February 25
Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Duke
"Mechanism Design, Designed Well Enough to Win a Nobel Prize"

March 3
Joonmo Son, Duke
"Institutional Constraints and Social Capital of Individuals in the Labor Markets: Comparison among the United States, China, and Taiwan"

March 17
Nan Lin, Duke
"The Long Hand of Social Capital"

March 24
Abraham Diskin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"A 'soft' game theoretical thought on justice"

March 31
Haifeng Huang, Duke
"(A Model of) Media Freedom and Regime Stability in Autocracies"

April 7
Erika Patall, Duke
"The benefits and limits of having choice"

April 14
Bahar Leventoglu, Duke
"Public Commitment in Crisis Bargaining"

April 21
John Aldrich, Duke
"Turnout as a Habit"

PARISS also offers four graduate Fellowships to advanced Duke graduate students pursuing interdisciplinary methodological training. Fellows are nominated each spring from within their schools or departments and selected by the PARISS advisory board.

Certificate Program

Overview: PARISS offers a Certificate in Advanced Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, providing interested doctoral students with a coherent and integrated understanding of mathematical methods in the social sciences. Methodology is among the great strengths of Duke University’s social science disciplines, and graduate students regularly receive excellent training relevant to their individual fields of study within existing departments. Yet while each social science may have unique disciplinary techniques, the social sciences as a whole have much to teach each other in cross-disciplinary development of formal models, in data collection, in model estimation, and in hypothesis testing. Additionally, the best testing of hypotheses comes in integration with the theory from which the hypotheses are derived. One of the special emphases of this certificate is deriving testable hypotheses from theory.

Core Requirements: Most candidates for the certificate will have constructed a unique combination of courses; that combination needs to achieve the basic skills and methodological training. To ensure that individual curricular programs meet these needs, candidates for the certificate must submit a detailed course plan to the PARISS Board of Advisors for its approval. Any changes to that plan need advance approval of the Board. The Board will confirm achievement of the certificate only if it is satisfied that the criteria fulfilling the core requirements have been met.

Application schedule: Ph.D. students in participating social science departments will normally apply to the certificate program in the spring of their first or early in their second year. All applications will be carefully scrutinized in consultation with the home department to ensure feasibility of achieving both the certificate and the Ph.D. in a timely (i.e., not excessively lengthened) fashion.

Core Requirements
Example Programs for the Advanced Training Requirement
Certificate Application
Grad School Application

Fellowships

The PARISS Fellowship program offers Duke graduate students a year-long residency in the Social Science Research Institute. The PARISS Program provides each Fellow's with an annual stipend and provides office space, computing, and other research and administrative support.

Fellows must be advanced graduate students working toward their dissertation, with interest and achievement in quantitative social science, and are selected via a competitive application from nominees from the various social science departments and units across Duke University. We anticipate at least four stipends annually, and we anticipate that Fellows will be working toward the certificate program. Fellows will be expected to participate in SSRI activities, including taking the capstone course and participating in the Research Seminar offered weekly throughout the year of their residence.

Nomination of candidates for the Fellows Program will be solicited each spring from all Ph.D.-granting graduate programs in social science and related disciplines at Duke University. Current practice as developed by the PARISS Board is that each Director of Graduate Studies establish nomination procedures within his or her department. Applications will be evaluated and Fellows appointments offered by decision of the PARISS Board. Every effort will be made to ensure the broadest representation of the social sciences, in addition to diversity in background. It is essential, too, that PARISS Fellows be committed to the goals of the program and to residency and active participation in PARISS and related SSRI programs over the year of their Fellowship.

Nominations for 2008/2009 Fellows~ TBA

To nominate a student, the student’s DGS should send his or her letter of support, a letter of support from the student's dissertation advisor, and a copy of the student's CV to:

PARISS Fellows Program
SSRI, Box 90420

Students interested in being considered for a PARISS Fellowship should speak to their DGS about the nomination process. The application package should include a copy of one research paper (course paper, conference paper, dissertation prospectus, etc.) by the applicant in support of their nomination, to illustrate the kinds of quantitative work they do.

Current Fellows

Haifeng Huang
Dan Lee
Kata Mihaly
Erika Patall
Joonmo Son

Board Members

John Aldrich (co-director)
Scott de Marchi (co-director)
Rick Hoyle
Ken Land
Michael Munger
Jerry Reiter
Scott Rockart
George Tauchen
Bob Winkler
Robert Wolpert