Material

Course Material

Open a notebook from its Colab badge, find the readings and datasets for each Studio, or use the Schedule page for the meeting-by-meeting calendar. Milestone instructions and rubrics are on Brightspace.

Topic	Sessions	Notebook	Data	Readings
Studio 1: Begin with your curiosity Week 1 · nb01	2 lectures		la_voter_file.csv lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 1 — From Curiosity to a Research Problem Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 4 ‘Getting started’.
Studio 2: Set your rules, shape your question Week 2 · nb02	2 lectures		la_voter_file.csv lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 2 — AI Is Your Arm, Not Your Brain Ch. 3 — You as a Research Director Ch. 4 — Specify, Delegate, Interrogate, Inspect, Verify, Document, Defend Ch. 5 — Research Responsibility and Intellectual Ownership Ch. 6 — Choose Your Question’s Kind and Reach Ch. 7 — Declare Your Research Question Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 2 ‘What is a research design?’; ch. 7 ‘Defining the inquiry’.
Studio 3: Ground it in verified evidence Week 3 · nb03	1 lecture		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 8 — Research Builds on Research Ch. 9 — Finding and Verifying Prior Evidence Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 4 ‘Getting started’, on situating a design in a literature.
Studio 4: Declare and diagnose provisionally Week 4 · nb04	2 lectures		la_voter_file.csv lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 10 — Model, Inquiry, Data Strategy, and Answer Strategy Ch. 11 — Uncertainty Before You Need It Ch. 12 — Declaring and Diagnosing a Research Design Ch. 13 — Research Ethics and Data Governance Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 2 ‘What is a research design?’ and ch. 5 ‘Declaring designs’; ch. 10 ‘Diagnosing designs’ and ch. 11 ‘Redesigning’.
Studio 5: Develop the pathway Week 5 · nb05	2 lectures		bonilla_tillery.csv cliningsmith_etal.csv foos_etal.csv la_voter_file.csv lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 14 — Observational Descriptive Research — your declared route, or the contrast assigned to you Ch. 15 — Observational Causal Research — your declared route, or the contrast assigned to you Ch. 16 — Experimental Descriptive Research — your declared route, or the contrast assigned to you Ch. 17 — Prediction and Generalization — your declared route, or the contrast assigned to you Ch. 18 — Experimental Causal Research — your declared route, or the contrast assigned to you Ch. 19 — Hybrid and Complex Designs — only if your design has stages Recommended companion — RDSS the design-library chapter matching your route (ch. 15–18).
Studio 6: Govern data and measurement Week 6 · nb06	2 lectures		bonilla_tillery.csv lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 20 — Data Provenance and Data Quality Ch. 21 — Measurement and Operationalization Recommended companion — RDSS the data-strategy discussion in your route’s design-library chapter (ch. 15–18).
Studio 7: Produce a reproducible first analysis Week 7 · nb07	2 lectures		foos_etal.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 22 — AI as Programmer Ch. 23 — AI as Analytical Assistant Recommended companion — RDSS revisit ch. 5 ‘Declaring designs’ if your declared analysis needs re-anchoring.
Studio 8: Stress-test and adjudicate Week 8 · nb08	1 lecture		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 24 — Robustness and Sensitivity Ch. 25 — Diagnostics and Negative Tests Ch. 26 — AI as Adversarial Reviewer Ch. 27 — Recognizing False Confidence Recommended companion — RDSS revisit ch. 10 ‘Diagnosing designs’.
Studio 9: Write, bound, and disclose Week 9 · nb09	2 lectures		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 28 — From Results to Claims Ch. 29 — Claim–Evidence Tables Ch. 30 — AI Disclosure and Research Integrity Ch. 31 — From Dossier to Research Note Recommended companion — RDSS revisit ch. 7 on the inquiry compass before you position your own claim.
Studio 10: Prepare to publish or present Week 10 · nb10	2 lectures		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 32 — Research Posters Ch. 33 — Poster Criticism Ch. 34 — Research Pitches, Talks, and Seminars Ch. 35 — Difficult Questions and Uncertainty
Conference block: poster production and peer review Week 11 · nb11	2 lectures		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Revisited this week Ch. 32 — Research Posters Ch. 33 — Poster Criticism Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 23 ‘Communicating’, the reporting standards section.
Conference block: presentation preparation Week 12 · nb12	2 lectures		all datasets (data.zip)	Revisited this week Ch. 34 — Research Pitches, Talks, and Seminars Ch. 35 — Difficult Questions and Uncertainty Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 23 ‘Communicating’.
Conference block: the public test (dress rehearsal and the Expo) Week 13 · nb13	1 lecture		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Revisited this week Ch. 32 — Research Posters Ch. 33 — Poster Criticism Ch. 34 — Research Pitches, Talks, and Seminars Ch. 35 — Difficult Questions and Uncertainty
Conference block: the public test (dress rehearsal and the Expo) Week 13 · nb14	async module		foos_etal.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Revisited this week Ch. 33 — Poster Criticism Ch. 35 — Difficult Questions and Uncertainty
Studio 11: Reproduce and package Week 15 · nb15	2 lectures		foos_etal.csv la_voter_file.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 36 — Replication and Reproduction Ch. 37 — Open and Reusable Research Packages Revisited this week Ch. 31 — From Dossier to Research Note
Studio 12: Special topic: agentic AI, release, and the next cycle Week 16 · nb16	2 lectures		lapop_brazil.csv all datasets (data.zip)	Required — EDR|AI Ch. 38 — Managing Multiple AI Agents Ch. 39 — Conflicting Agents and Human Escalation Ch. 40 — Final Research and AI-Management Portfolio Recommended companion — RDSS ch. 24 ‘Epilogue’, the release-and-next-cycle send-off.

The Data column links the course datasets (.zip) — every dataset used across the notebooks, in one download. Notebooks also load the same files automatically from the course repository, so the bundle is your offline copy.

Core Course References

• Blair, G., Coppock, A., & Humphreys, M. (2023). Research Design in the Social Sciences: Declaration, Diagnosis, and Redesign. Princeton University Press. Read free online: book.declaredesign.org.
• Course datasets ship from the MIT-licensed rdss package (see notebooks/data/).