Individual skill

apsr-research-design

Use when defending the research design of an American Political Science Review (APSR) manuscript — causal identification for quantitative work, case selection and process tracing for qualitative work, experimental and survey-experimental design, or formal-empirical linkage. APSR judges each tradition on its own terms. Strengthens the design; it does not write code.

American-Political-Science-Review-Skills/skills/apsr-research-design/SKILL.md

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# Research Design (apsr-research-design)

APSR accepts many methodologies but is demanding about each. The design must credibly connect the
argument (`apsr-theory-building`) to evidence. This skill is mode-aware: pick the section that matches
your work and defend it against the strongest alternative explanation.

## When to trigger

- Specifying identification, case selection, or experimental design
- A reviewer questioned causal claims, case choice, external validity, or a confound
- Preparing a **pre-analysis plan** or a **Registered Report** Stage 1 design
- Justifying why your design adjudicates the rival account from `apsr-literature-positioning`

## Quantitative / causal inference
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