Reflections on Teaching Quantitative Methods in Arabic to Graduate Students from the mena Region

Abstract

Despite a growing reliance on quantitative methods in the study of mena politics globally, political scientists from the region have broadly resisted such trends. While mena scholars should not be beholden to methodological trends in other regions, there is a need to provide students with an interest in quantitative methods opportunities to receive such training in Arabic. The Summer School for Quantitative Methods was a virtual five-day program offered by the Arab Political Science Network (apsn) and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies from May 29 to June 2, 2022. The primary aim of ssqm was to address the gap noted above and introduce political science graduate students from the Arabic-speaking world to quantitative empirical analysis. The program accomplished its immediate goals, and the application process showed a significant demand for training in quantitative methods in the region, yet future projects should take into consideration the considerable challenges we faced.