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Summary Introduction to Political Science Research UvA Notes
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Lecture 1Foundationalism - non-foundationalism
Is there a foundation for knowledge production?
Foundationalism: YES, there is a secure foundation of certainty that serves as a solid basis on which to build truth claims.
Anit-foundationalism: NO, there is no basic ground or foundation of knowledge in either pure experience or pure reason.
Different questions about science
Ontology
What is the nature of the social world?
With assumptions about the nature of the social world and the basic elements that make up this world.
Epistemology
What sort of knowledge of the social world is possible?
What we CAN know about social phenomena etc.
Methodology
What strategies can we use to gain knowledge of the social world?
Causality
What do we mean by causes?
Two different approaches
Positivism
= In which the search for truth is characterized by the systematic collection of observed facts.
Tenets of positivism
- Naturalism
The idea that there are no fundamental differences between the natural and the social science.
- Empiricism
A philosophical theory of knowledge which claims that what we know of the world is limited to what can be observed.
- Laws
If the social word is like the natural world, it also must me regular, systematic and law governed.
→ Discover laws through induction.
1
Logical positivism
,Introduce logical reasoning and mathematics as source of knowledge in addition to empiricism (through
induction, deduction and retroduction)
Logical positivism also brought verification as the goal of social science research. Criticism on logical positivism
- How can we reach general statements of scientific law on the basis of experiences? - Since a single exception of a rule
destroys the generated theory, then conclusive verification of a hypothesis is not possible.
→ Since we can not verify a hypothesis, our aim should be to falsify it.
Interpretivism
Maintains that the social world is fundamentally different from the world of natural phenomena, and so we cannot
understand it by employing methods used to explain the natural world.
Constructivism
Assumes that social phenomena are social constructs in the sense that their shape and form is imbued with social values, norms
and assumptions, rather than being the product of purely individual thought or meaning.
Different approaches
Positivism Scientific realism Interpretivism
meanings which give people reasons for
Ontology No different from the social acting.
world. Scientific knowledge is limited to what
can be observed but also includes We cannot seek
unobservable elements of social life. causes, but only
Epistemology Scientific knowledge of the
uncover meanings that provide the reasons
social world is
A reflection of reality; established by for action.
limited to what can be
observed. discovering observable and unobservable Interpretive theory and textual strategies.
questions The social world is like a text and has to be
Through direct interpreted to discover hidden meanings
Causality A reflection of the way we think observation and logic applied to both and subtext.
about the observable and
world; established by unobservable
discovering observable structures
regularities. Fundamentally
different from the
Methodology Through direct observation.
social world.
No different from the social world.
Scientific knowledge can be gained
2
through interpreting the
Lecture 3
Is science value-laden?
Values in the ‘value free’ zone of science
- Via biases of the researcher; distortion
- Via choices made in the research design
(in- or excluding certain problems, formulation of research questions, selection of methods and objectives of
research)
- Via expectations of the researcher (Rosenthal effect)
(Teacher has certain expectations from a student and handles like that, so the student starts acting like that
expectations and that influences his results) - Tendency for the act of the observer itself (Heisenberg effect)
, Behaviour changes while we study it, because those we are studying alter their behaviour when they know they are
being observed
Scientific knowledge production as a situated practice - two views 1. The truths of science are
independent of any local context
Truth is the ‘view from nowhere’
2. Science is not ‘one thing’ it consists of a variety of practices whose conceptual identities were the outcomes of
local patterns of training and socialization
Is there a value-free zone in science? - two views
1. Researcher’s values intruding the research process can be mitigated 2. Science is per definition value
laden, there is no escape.
How does science progress?
Paradigms
= A conceptual scheme, about which some community of scholars agree, and which defines the objects of investigation and the way
in which they are to be investigated.
Paradigms approached in political research
Paradigms..
- Arise within a specific social context
- Consist of a set of assumptions about the nature of an area of study - Helps to explain events and processes, and
provide a guide to action or policy - Lose their usefulness when events or circumstances arise which violate the
assumptions of the paradigm, and are supplanted by other paradigms, containing different assumptions.
Kuhn’s model of development of natural science
The structure of scientific revolution
1 Pre-science
→ Paradigm is establishedl
2. Normal science
→ Anomalies (something which deviates from the general rule, but not enough for rejecting a paradigm) build.
3. Crisis
→ Competition for a successor
4. Revolution
→ One contender gains ascendancy
5. New paradigm
→ Generates new ‘2. normal science’
Criticism:
- Normal science will suggest that the rationality of science is limited - Shift in paradigms is not a rational decision, but
more like a conversion experience.
While this perspective shows how Kuhn’s arguments continue to inform thinking about the nature of social-scientific
enterprise, it leaves unanswered questions about the research methods etc. that are appropriate for post-normal science.
Leads to the next conception of the nature of social science
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