Analyses of electoral participation and vote choice have always been a mainstay of research in political behavior. More recently, as the usage of direct democratic institutions has increased, researchers have increasingly focused on voter behavior in referendums as well. In this seminar, we will discuss cutting edge research from the field of political behavior addressing these two issues, using a combination of interactive exercises and student presentations. For the latter, we will mimic the structure of a conference panel. Students will give a 10-minute presentation on a research article, presenting it as if it were their own work, after which another student acts as a discussant to start a discussion in the plenary. There is no fixed reading list. At the beginning of the term, students will be able to choose freely from a pool of papers that have been published in top international journals in 2019 and 2018. The goal of the course is to acquaint students with current topics and approaches in the field of political behavior. The instructor will provide explanations of the methods used in the papers to facilitate an understanding of the articles that we discuss in class. The course shall also afford students a glimpse into the workings of academia beyond the seminar room, and the scientific publishing process in particular. Possible topics include peer review, citation metrics, the role of gender in scientific publishing, p-hacking, replication crisis, open access, pre-registration. Hence, this course should be of particular relevance to students who contemplate pursuing a Ph.D. in the future. For ‘active participation,’ all students will have to give a presentation, act as a discussant as well as submit one question per week on the assigned readings. The course language is English.