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Notes of the lectures for Part 1 of the IPRES course
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Notes of the lectures for Part 1 of the IPRES course: Lectures 1-11
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Lecture 1: "Will there be war?": Facts, fiction, and the relevance of science"Will there be war?” → This may be the most urgent question at the moment, there are a
lot of political scientist and researchers working on this question and political science
research can be helpful on finding a response.
I. Research methods – why should we care?
Research methods:
Research methods are the ‘rules of the game’ in a scientific
forum. More accurately: research methods are:
- sets of codified insights
- on how to make credible knowledge claims
- in a scientific debate
The rules of the game are central in the construction of credibility:
- credibility is produced differently in different forums
- on the basis of specific sets of standards
Why are they relevant?:
Political science research:
1
, Researchers are bound by the rules of science:
Complying with these ‘rules of the game’ is a necessary precondition for establishing
oneself as a critical and credible discussion partner à trustworthy
researcher.
→ Studying at university = familiarizing yourself with the rules of science
→ Marked by a series of ‘rites de passage’
That holds true both for natural scientists and for social scientists like us:
Natural scientists: Social scientists:
- Study natural phenomena - Study societies and the relations among individuals + relations
between individuals and societies.
- Focus on the identification of
general laws (‘nomological - Focus on the testing and construction of theories to explain /
research’) understand societal dynamics in relation to agency.
- On the basis of empirical - (Often) problem-driven / action-oriented: results are (intended
evidence from observation and to be) used to ‘better’ some situation (H&H p.2: “significant
experimentation questions” about “real-world problems”).
- Are “methodological pluralists” using an “array of methods”
(H&H p.7)
- Are critical of the phenomena studied and of own position &
research (H&H p.3)
The main difference between natural science and social science is that in natural
science we do not have obvious, universal and concrete rules that can be apply in x case
(not always 100% sure). We keep asking questions like: when does this theory apply?
For example: What did you do as a political scientist - Project I?
→ Which topic did you study? Why?
Real-world problems? ex: Amsterdam housing market dynamics ...
Significant questions? ex: Dominant media discourses comparing, extinction rebellion...
Critical? ex: Self-aware of your research project’s strengths and limitations?
→ Which methods did you use? Why?
Process tracing
Elite interviewing
Discourse analysis ...surveying
→ Were you a “critical and credible” / trustworthy researcher?
2
, II. Example: will there be war?
→ How can theory and research help us make sense of this issue?
→ Whose arguments on the topic are we to believe?
Are scientific methods helpful in answering the question?
Who has written what?
Using which theory/theories?
Defining concepts: how?: what is ‘war’?
Employing which methods?
Analyzing which data: how?
Drawing which conclusions?
=> ‘Will there be war?’ Is this an answerable/researchable question?
(In this case we could say that it is not an answerable question because of the
unpredictability, complexity, the plurality of factors and we cannot answer something
that hasn't happened yet).
Your job as a political scientist (-to be):
Assessing the quality of an argument
+ Is the question posed ‘answerable’ / researchable?
+ Is the selected method appropriate in the light of selected theories, research
objectives and research questions?
+ Does the research produce an answer to the research question?
+ Were the methods correctly applied etc. etc... <apply quality criteria> (NB Lecture 3!)
3
, “ ... to systematically investigate ideas we hold about the world enables us to analytically
engage with political affairs, rather than to passively consume the output of politicians …
and news media” (H&H. p9)
III. IPRes: key objectives
→ Understanding what you read and hear: ‘Methodological literacy’.
→ Further developing your skills as a researcher.
a) Methodological literacy: the ability to read, understand and assess
- Political science output
- In different methodological traditions
- Applying associated quality criteria
- Understanding basic concepts in research methodology
- Knowing of various methods for data gathering and analysis
- ...
b) Acquire basic practical skills to carry out research
- The ability to perform a qualitative, inductive content analysis = Assignment 1
- The ability to perform simple statistical analyses
- The skills in working with Excel, analysing quantitative data, and in presenting the
data and results = Assignment 2
c) Literacy in research ethics
=> TAKE AWAY:
1. Sets of codified insights on how to make credible knowledge claims in the realm of
science
2. Knowing the rules of science
+ enables you to participate in scientific debate
+ enables you to tell good science from bad science (sloppy science / unethical
science / fabricated nonsense...)
4
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