While at the professional level, the social sciences have a well- defined body of tools to use in experimentation, at the undergraduate level, the focus remains primarily on the humanistic roots of the disciplines. The academy has long wrestled with the problem of integrating theory and methods at appropriate undergraduate levels with scattered success. Students seldom make the connection between courses like econometrics and intermediate macroeconomic theory. Indeed, they tend to see econometrics as just another course, rather than the heart of economic scientific inquiry. Similar stories are heard in geography, sociology and political science. By taking the method and theory courses separately, students do not use method to reinforce theory and vice versa. Beginning with second semester freshmen and sophomores, an introduction to social science methods course would allow students to blend these ideas from the start. With appropriate laboratory exercises, students would also have a broader understanding of the social sciences as a whole and an appreciation for the similarities and differences between methods used by each discipline. This course will weave quantitative method into the fabric of the social sciences.
