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Abstract
Students and instructors alike have lamented the nature of methods instruction in political science curricula. Existing research has presented a number of innovative approaches to engage students in this important learning enterprise, from blogging and simulations to data visualization and the use of clickers. This article builds upon this literature by arguing that the policy memo is particularly suited for introducing basic methodological concepts to upper-division undergraduate students. To facilitate its use for this purpose in addition to its utility as a knowledge assessment tool, I offer a policy memo template based on over ten years of experience as a strategist and analyst in the U.S. military. The article also includes a detailed description of the basic methodological concepts that can be developed through each section of the template. Specifically, the policy memo can be used to introduce students to concepts like identifying a critical research question, defining and measuring variables, conducting a literature review, developing hypotheses, using data to assess hypotheses, evaluating the authoritativeness of sources, and devising the theoretical implications of one’s research. I present some preliminary results that support the policy memo’s inclusion as a tool of methods instruction, but the pedagogical literature - which argues for integrative, experiential, relevant, and short assignments - provides the strongest rationale for its use.
Notes
1 See the special issue Mad about Methods in this journal. See (Combes Citation2019) for a review of the challenges of teaching methods.
2 I specify upper-division students because it is common for students to take coursework beyond the introductory courses at this point. However, many universities are trying to expose students to research earlier in their undergraduate careers. Both Georgetown and Stanford, for example, have sophomore research seminars.
3 I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for this point.
4 This list of basic concepts is adapted from (Dickovick Citation2009, 143).
5 This benefit is particularly relevant to master’s students; depending on the school, 20–50% of graduates with a master’s in international relations from a public policy school will go on to work in the public sector, where the policy memo is the dominant form of communication.
6 For a review of the literature on experiential and active learning techniques, see (Slocum-Schaffer and Bohrer Citation2019, 2).
7 For example, Boys and Keating (Citation2009, 203) introduce students to a simple four-section structure: the executive summary, the situation brief, policy options/recommendation, and a list of key sources. The policy memo is one of the numerous forms of policy writing, which also includes white papers, position papers, policy briefs, and briefing memos. These products have similar outlines but often differ in audience, length, and/or purpose. A white paper, for example, is an authoritative report or guide often issued by a government or a government organization that informs external readers concisely about a complex issue and conveys the issuing body's vision on the matter (World Health Organization Citationn.d.). A Congressional Memorandum is also issued by the government, usually by a congressional staffer or advisor, but is used for internal communications to convey concise background research and policy options (Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge Citation2016). In contrast, a policy brief is intended to provide “a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make decisions about, government policies” (UNC Writing Center Staff Citationn.d.). A briefing note, like the above mentioned forms, summarizes a larger issue, but it is used to review the “big picture” for senior policymakers who are unfamiliar with the issue and require a capsule of the key points and considerations (Doyle Citation2013). A position paper follows a similar structure but adds a component about who would be affected by the policy and also offers alternative courses of action (Pennock Citation2011). While differences in target audience and length are important in the policy world, they are less pertinent for instructors hoping to use policy writing as a teaching and assessment tool. I use the policy memo because it is the most general of these formats, making it easy to adapt to course content.
8 I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing this out.
9 I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this point.
10 I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing this out.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Oriana Skylar Mastro
Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, war termination, and coercive diplomacy. Previously, she served as assistant professor of security studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Dr. Mastro is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and has held positions at the Council on Foreign Relations, RAND Corporation, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mastro has also served for eleven years in the United States Air Force Reserve, for which she currently works as a strategic planner at INDOPACOM. For her contributions to U.S. strategy in Asia, she won the Individual Reservist of the Year Award in 2016. She has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, International Security, International Studies Review, Journal of Strategic Studies, The Washington Quarterly, The National Interest, Survival, and Asian Security, and is the author of The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime (Cornell University Press, 2019). She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. Her publications and other commentary can be found on twitter @osmastro and www.orianaskylarmastro.com.