Strategies of Political Inquiry

Strategies of Political Inquiry PDF Author: Elinor Ostrom
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
The essays in this volume, written by leading political scientists, express discontent with the prevailing basis of political studies. They find that the acceptance of a logical positivist view of what makes a valid theory has led to a concentration on questions of method. How to describe political relationships quantitatively, how to measure and compare patterns of policy and behaviour: these are the kind of topics that have concerned researchers not dedicated solely to qualitative methods. They are seeking, still, an empirical foundation for political science, clear cut and consistent patterns that are repeated often enough in the data to need theories to account for them.

Strategies of Political Inquiry

Strategies of Political Inquiry PDF Author: Elinor Ostrom
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
The essays in this volume, written by leading political scientists, express discontent with the prevailing basis of political studies. They find that the acceptance of a logical positivist view of what makes a valid theory has led to a concentration on questions of method. How to describe political relationships quantitatively, how to measure and compare patterns of policy and behaviour: these are the kind of topics that have concerned researchers not dedicated solely to qualitative methods. They are seeking, still, an empirical foundation for political science, clear cut and consistent patterns that are repeated often enough in the data to need theories to account for them.

Methods for Political Inquiry

Methods for Political Inquiry PDF Author: Stella Z. Theodoulou
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book presents a readily accessible, systematic approach to politics and its principles, around which political inquiry should be organized. Readers are exposed to materials on the fundamental assumptions of political inquiry in addition to the specific devices necessary for gathering and collecting data about political phenomena. Methods for Political Inquiry represents the only book currently available that covers the full range of both research methods and research techniques. It incorporates both normative and empirical theory building, as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods, to emphasize why researchers might use one technique over another.

Field Research in Political Science

Field Research in Political Science PDF Author: Diana Kapiszewski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107006031
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
This book explains how field research contributes value to political science by exploring scholars' experiences, detailing exemplary practices, and asserting key principles.

Approaches to Social Enquiry

Approaches to Social Enquiry PDF Author: Norman Blaikie
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745634494
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Since its initial publication, this highly respected text has provided students with a critical review of the major research paradigms in the social sciences and the logics or strategies of enquiry associated with them. This second edition has been revised and updated.

Case Study Method

Case Study Method PDF Author: Roger Gomm
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446275698
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This is the most comprehensive guide to the current uses and importance of case study methods in social research. The editors bring together key contributions from the field which reflect different interpretations of the purpose and capacity of case study research. The address issues such as: the problem of generalizing from study of a small number of cases; and the role of case study in developing and testing theories. The editors offer in-depth assessments of the main arguments. An annotated bibliography of the literature dealing with case study research makes this an exhaustive and indispensable guide.

Rethinking Comparison

Rethinking Comparison PDF Author: Erica S. Simmons
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108967086
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Qualitative comparative methods – and specifically controlled qualitative comparisons – are central to the study of politics. They are not the only kind of comparison, though, that can help us better understand political processes and outcomes. Yet there are few guides for how to conduct non-controlled comparative research. This volume brings together chapters from more than a dozen leading methods scholars from across the discipline of political science, including positivist and interpretivist scholars, qualitative methodologists, mixed-methods researchers, ethnographers, historians, and statisticians. Their work revolutionizes qualitative research design by diversifying the repertoire of comparative methods available to students of politics, offering readers clear suggestions for what kinds of comparisons might be possible, why they are useful, and how to execute them. By systematically thinking through how we engage in qualitative comparisons and the kinds of insights those comparisons produce, these collected essays create new possibilities to advance what we know about politics.

Interview Research in Political Science

Interview Research in Political Science PDF Author: Maria Elayna Mosley
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801467969
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Interviews are a frequent and important part of empirical research in political science, but graduate programs rarely offer discipline-specific training in selecting interviewees, conducting interviews, and using the data thus collected. Interview Research in Political Science addresses this vital need, offering hard-won advice for both graduate students and faculty members. The contributors to this book have worked in a variety of field locations and settings and have interviewed a wide array of informants, from government officials to members of rebel movements and victims of wartime violence, from lobbyists and corporate executives to workers and trade unionists. The authors encourage scholars from all subfields of political science to use interviews in their research, and they provide a set of lessons and tools for doing so. The book addresses how to construct a sample of interviewees; how to collect and report interview data; and how to address ethical considerations and the Institutional Review Board process. Other chapters discuss how to link interview-based evidence with causal claims; how to use proxy interviews or an interpreter to improve access; and how to structure interview questions. A useful appendix contains examples of consent documents, semistructured interview prompts, and interview protocols.

Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science

Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science PDF Author: Stephen Van Evera
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801454441
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Stephen Van Evera greeted new graduate students at MIT with a commonsense introduction to qualitative methods in the social sciences. His helpful hints, always warmly received, grew from a handful of memos to an underground classic primer. That primer evolved into a book of how-to information about graduate study, which is essential reading for graduate students and undergraduates in political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, and history - and for their advisers. -How should we frame, assess, and apply theories in the social sciences? "I am unpersuaded by the view that the prime rules of scientific method should differ between hard science and social science. Science is science." -A section on case studies shows novices the ropes. -Van Evera contends the realm of dissertations is often defined too narrowly "Making and testing theories are not the only games in town.... If everyone makes and tests theories but no one ever uses them, then what are they for?" -In "Helpful Hints on Writing a Political Science Ph.D. Dissertation," Van Evera focuses on presentation, and on broader issues of academic strategy and tactics. -Van Evera asks how political scientists should work together as a community. "All institutions and professions that face weak accountability need inner ethical rudders that define their obligations in order to stay on course."

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences

Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences PDF Author: Thad Dunning
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107017661
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
The first comprehensive guide to natural experiments, providing an ideal introduction for scholars and students.

Thinking Like a Political Scientist

Thinking Like a Political Scientist PDF Author: Christopher Howard
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022632754X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
There are a plethora of books that aim to teach the research methods needed for political science. Thinking Like a Political Scientist stands out from them in its conviction that students are better served by learning a handful of core lessons well rather than trying to memorize hundreds of often statistical definitions. Short and concise, the book has two main parts, Asking Good Questions and Generating Good Answers. In the first section, one chapter each is devoted to the three fundamental questions in political science: who cares?, what happened?, and why?. These take up, among many other topics, crafting a literature review, creating hypotheses, measuring concepts, and the difference between correlation and causation. The second section of the book has chapters about choosing a research design, choosing cases, working with written documents, and working with numbers. All of these are essential skills for undergraduates to have when reading published work and conducting their own research. Every chapter ends with several exercises where students can read examples from published work and develop their own skills as researchers. Finally, unlike most research methods books, Christopher Howard s sprinkles humor and surprising analogies throughout."