The call for applications is open for the 2018 Research Strategies in Policy Studies (ReSPoS) Summer School in Milan (Italy).

What is ReSPoS?
ReSPoS is deeply focused on research methods in policy studies. With special attention devoted to methodological pluralism, ReSPoS's main task is to grant participants the opportunity to be presented with - and possibly to challenge - different research traditions, by discussing the assumptions, the advantages and the limitations underlying each method.

What will this edition be about?
Every empirical research requires that we cope with the intricacies of turning concepts from theories into measures – and credibly so. Given their ambition to usable knowledge for policy decisions, the matter is even hotter to policy studies. The evaluation of a policy tool rests on shaky ground if we mismeasure the treatment and the effect. Processes and causal recipes to outcomes can be too easily dismissed, or too easily confirmed when based on ill-defined observations. The information that big data make available is as massive as dirty and must be carefully shaped before it can be properly used as policy-relevant data. The adequacy of measures to concepts, moreover, is never solved once and for all. The specification required for computing probabilities can be not the same as for assessing possibilities. To maximize the portability of a concept across space-time regions, we may need a fairly different gauge than when we engage in intensive studies. ReSPoS 2018 gathers scholars from different research traditions to discuss what different techniques understand as good measures of relevant concepts. During five days, students will be presented with positions and solutions through practical examples from process tracing, QCA, standard econometrics, and topic modelling. Moreover, ReSPoS will grant participants the opportunity to discuss their research projects with our faculty through a poster session.

Programme:
» The process of conceptualisation in case-based research within policy studies
Rasmus Brun Pedersen, Aarhus University (DK)
» From concepts to property-sets for configurational analysis
Mario Quaranta, Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (IT)
» From words to numbers: text analysis and topic models in policy studies
Federica Genovese, University of Essex, Colchester (UK)
» The mainstream: econometrics to build synthetic indicators in policy studies
Daniele Checchi, Università degli Studi di Milano (IT)
» Wrap-up: Concepts and the challenges of MMR
Gary Goertz, University of Notre Dame (USA)

Applications
The School welcomes applications from MA students, PhD students and Post-doctoral researchers. Moreover, the School welcomes applications from practitioners and researchers from private and public organisations interested in policy studies. The deadline for application is May, 15. Applications are online only.

Interested candidates may access the online form here.

Fees and services
Thanks to the financial support from our sponsors, the program is free. Participants only have to cover their travel and accommodation expenses.

Further information click here.

For any request, please contact: respos@unimi.it