Stephan: If you want to learn how to become
a professor in the field of political science
stay with me.
[Music Playing]
Stephan: Hello, and welcome to howtobecomeaprofessor.com;
the web show to learn from proven professors
and experts. I am your host Stephen Si-Hwan
and I will stress sometime today you will
learn how Gary King, university professor
at Harvard would plan his career in the field
of political science today. Professor Gary
King is the Albert J. Weatherhead University
professor at Harvard University. One of 23
with the title of University Professor, Harvardís
most distinguished faculty position. Gary
King develops and applies empirical methods
in many areas of social science research focusing
on innovations that span the range from statistical
theory to practical application. Gary received
a B.A. from State University of New York at
New Paltz, and a Ph.D. from the University
of Wisconsin, Madison. Gary King has been
elected fellow in six honorary societies,
and has won more than 30 ìbest ofî awards
for his work including the career achievement
award in 2010. Professor Gary King, thank
you very much for taking this time for your
interview. Itís a tremendous honor to have
you here with us.
Gary: Well, thanks very much.
Stephen: All right, I know that you are very
busy so letís start right into the content.
The first question Iíd like to ask you is
how would you plan your academic career in
the field of political science today, from
a B.A. Degree to professorship, and if itís
possible please be as specific as you can.
Gary: The most important thing to remember
is that is if you the student, did exactly
what I did and you followed every step that
I followed, you wouldnít do anywhere near
as well as I did. Thatís because I already
did it.
Stephen: Right.
Gary: Right. So what you need to do is to
cut your own path. You need to find a skill
that others donít have. You need to read
some things that others donít know. You need
to have some ideas that others havenít been
figured out before.
Stephen: Hadnít solved, right.
Gary: You can take the advice from everybody,
but everybody including me is going to give
you advice about what we did, and what was
successful for us but the field moves forward.
It continues to move forward. The technical
skills that I had early on were certainly
good enough to get where I was going then,
but the technical skills that I would need
today have moved on and they are different
types of skills. Learning the basic statistical
skills were very valuable. Today you definitely
want to learn the basic skills, but you also
need some computer science. That would also
be very valuable.
Do that, learn all of those things and then
also figure out what the next really cool
thing is that I donít know and my colleagues
donít know and come and teach us.
Stephen: Okay, I have one question regarding
the requirement; the requirement process of
technical skills. I mean, you know, I personally
feel also kind of overwhelmed. There are so
many different skills, and if you want to
become proficient in statistics and all the
quantitative methods, is there a more efficient
way to learn those skills?
Gary: Yes, let me actually make it worse before
I make it better. The way to make it worse
is just to understand how bad the problem
is. If you actually did it in the way that
would be logical and would make intellectual
sense, you would take a few years of maybe
ñ youíd take three or four years of mathematics,
and then take mathematical statistics, and
linear algebra, and real number theory, and
then take your first data analysis course,
and then maybe a little social science.
Stephen: Right.
Gary: But by that time youíd already be a
physicist or a chemist or something like that,
and so that doesnít work. Even though that
may make the most intellectual sense, it just
doesnít work for social sciences and so what
we tend to do and what often makes sense is
sure get the background; get the tools, and
pick up the tools when you can. They are very
important, but what you want to do is learn
the substance at the same time so what we
tend to do is, and what tends to work the
best is to get the tools when you need them,
right? When you need them, pick up the tools
as fast as you can and go as deep as you can.
Another general suggestion is that most academics
tend to use the same methods their whole career
and theyíre the methods that they learned
in graduate school. Donít be like them, right?
Thatís the first suggestion. Donít be like
them. Keep learning tools. The second suggestion
is to realize that, realize the social science
generalization that people are who they are.
People tend to be the same and youíre probably
going to be like them. What that means is
that when youíre in graduate school or youíre
an undergraduate, pick up the tools because
the tools will enable you to do the things
that others havenít been able to do. So if
you have the choice, take some statistics
courses, take some courses in political methodology,
take a computer science course or two now
and then youíll have a framework on which
to build. Then you can prove me wrong after
you become a professor and you can learn more
tools, but those tools will be taken to the
next level.
Stephen: All right, thank you so much. Letís
move on to the second question quick. What
are, in your opinion, the most relevant dramas
to submit your original work to, and which
are the most important conferences to attend
in the field of political science?
Gary: Political science is a very big, broad,
diverse, field. There are people that study
all kinds of different things within it and
so we have many, many journals that you might
focus on. The main journal of the American
Political Science Association is the American
Political Science Review. That would be a
good journal to pay attention to, to understand
what the fieldís about, but thereís many,
many really good specialized journals. Political
Analysis is the main journal of the method
subfield of the discipline. Itís cited more
often than all of the other journals in the
field because so many people use these tools,
so thatís another good journal to pay attention
to.
There are regional journals in political science;
The American Journal of Political Science,
the Journal of Politics, and then there are
specialty journals within particular areas.
There is International Studies Quarterly,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, a number of
others within specific areas. American Politics
Research, and so thereís many, many others
but I think you could start with those to
get a feel for it. On conferences, the way
to think about it is that there are some big
conferences that many, many people go to;
so the American Political Science Association
meetings that tends to be at the end of the
summer every year. That has maybe 6,000 people
that go to it. Itís a big political and social
event with hundreds of panels. Those are interesting.
The Midwest Political Science Association
is a smaller version of that national conference.
Thatís also a useful thing to do, but I would
also go all the way to the other end of the
continuum. Look for some small conferences
on areas that youíre interested in. The Society
for Political Methodology is a smaller conference
with now about 250 people maybe, but thereís
even smaller conferences with a dozen or a
few dozen people that can be very, very valuable.
Stephen: All right, okay. I reached the last
question. How have you been able to maintain
such a high level of motivation and discipline
throughout your entire and impressive career,
and how can young scholiasts avoid the feeling
of being overwhelmed?
Gary: Well itís more ñ itís not being overwhelmed
itís more what it is you want to do, and
why it is you would want to be in the field.
Stephen: Right.
Gary: I remember when I was a sophomore in
college; my advisor had me doing some research
for him. I working as a research assistant,
like an apprentice, and I was literally copying
numbers out of a book into columns, and then
Iíd type them into the computer. I would
take these and Iíd do some analyses on my
own and at one point, I did a little analysis
on my own, a little scatter-fly. I brought
it to him and I said, ìIt looks like these
two variables are related to each other. I
think that might be interesting.î He said
to me, ìThatís really interesting. I didnít
know that,î and I was a sophomore in college
and I thought, ìYou didnít know that. How
could you not know that?î He said, ìGary
I donít know that and nor does anyone else
on the planet. In the history of the world
no one ever knew this before.î
So it was some silly little thing that I came
up with as a sophomore, but itís not that
hard to come up with an idea, and an empirical
analysis that nobody in the history of the
world has come up with before. Once you think
about that, and once you do it, itís like
cocaine. Well I donít know exactly what cocaine
is like today, but itís the way they describe
it. Itís completely addictive.
Stephen: Right.
Gary: Once you do it, you just want to keep
doing it. You just want to make those discoveries.
You just want to be part of it and so you
donít need to worry about motivation if itís
something that youíre really interested in.
So thatís, I think, the answer to your question.
Stephen: Okay, letís wrap this up this up
very fast, but still, a very substantial interview.
First, Professor Gary King explained that
itís really important to come up with something
very original and to learn the techniques.
Yes, mathematical techniques, computer science
techniques along the way as you need them.
Second selection, Gary King shared with us
what are in his opinion the most relevant
journals to submit your original work to,
and which are the most important conferences
to attend in the field of political science,
which is a very broad field. Stakes, Professor
Gary King generously told us how he is maintaining
such a high level of motivation and discipline
throughout his distinguished career. Professor
Gary King, thank you so much for contributing
so much value to the Online School for Unconventional
Academics. We learned so much, and we learned
so many actionable steps, and Iím sure that
many of our users will put your recommendations
into good use. This interview was by far the
fastest so far and as always, Iíd like to
end my interview with the following quote,
ìThe best advice is worth nothing if itís
not put into practice.î
[Music Playing]
