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Summary Research methods in political science
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Summary of the lectures given. Only lecture 13 is half.
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RESEARCH METHODSlecture one: tuesday 7 february
Examination:
- short weekly assignments (10% of final course grade)
- exam (90% of final course grade)
-> Monday 27 march 9:00-12:00
multiple choice (70%) and short open questions (30%)
—
Causes => events, decisions and actions => outcomes
but also Process => events, decisions and actions
scientific research:
● Theory: why? how? -Explanations & predictions
● Method: evidence? data? -Procedures & methods
● Analysis: description & Theory/Hypothesis testing
Naive science vs scientific method
Naive science is more for every day, you tend to come up with explanations all the time. An
intuitive presumption.
a) Personal experience
b) intuition
c) Authority
d) Appeals to tradition, custom and faith
e) Magic, superstition and mysticism
=> it might as well be wrong (no or biased inquiry)
scientific method
a) systematic process
b) falsifiable theories
c) replication
d) reflective and self-critical approach
e) Cumulative & SelfCorrecting Process
f) Cyclical Process
lecture two: friday 10 february
Philosophy of Social Science
- Positivism, Scientific Realism & Interpretivism
- Objectivity & Values
Ontology = What is the nature of the social world, e.g. is there an objective and/or subjective
reality?
Epistemology = What can we know about social phenomena?
Methodology = How do we gain/obtain knowledge?
,Positivism
French Philosopher August Comte (1798-1857) -> names in red, remember them!
Positivism: Search for the truth through systematic collection of observable facts
Sociology: Scientific study of the social world
Different positions:
1. Classical Positivism
2. Logical Positivism
3. Falsification (Popper)
1. Classical Positivism
Naturalism: Social Sciences = Natural Sciences
Empiricism: Knowledge of the world is limited to what can be observed and measured
(sensory experience)
Laws: Social world is subject to regular and systematic processes; laws are explanatory and
predictive. (gives us a casual explanation)
- Induction (observation -> theory)
- Cause-and-effect relationships (observable ‘constant conjunction’, David Hume)
Key assumption of this approach = science is objective and value-free
2. Logical positivism: Basic tenets
Empiricism + Logical Reasoning
- Deduction (theory -> observation)
- Retroduction (observation <-> theory)
=> in practice mostly used
Verification (establishing truth claims)
Induction & Deduction (& Retroduction) (!!!)
,Critique of logical positivism
Karl Popper (1902-1994)
Rejection of induction:
- Particular experience can never be general knowledge
- One counter-observation and law is falsified
- Deduction is the way
Rejection of verifiability
- Verification of theory pointless (only possible if there’s no contradiction)
- Goal must be falsification of theory (and replacement with a better theory)
Deductive-nomological model
Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997)
❖ An observed phenomenon is explained if it can be deduced from a universal law-like
generalization
❖ Law expresses necessary connection between properties, accidental generalization
does not
Hypothetico-deductive model
❖ Test ability of law to predict events
❖ Law -> Hypothesis -> Explicit Predictions
- Prediction correct -> Hypothesis corroborated/supported
- Prediction incorrect -> Hypothesis falsified/not supported
Challenge 1: scientific realism
-> Not everything can be directly observed
Similarities to Positivism
a) Social and natural worlds (sciences) are similar
b) Realism: ‘objective’ reality exists
Key Difference
a. Reality can consist of unobservable elements as well, e.g. structural relationships
b. Assessment by observable consequences
c. Causal mechanisms instead of law-like generalizations
‘Best’ theory is the one that explains phenomena the ‘best’
Example: Mechanisms (Charles Tilly)
Environmental: ‘externally generated influences on conditions affecting social life’
Cognitive: ’operate through alterations of individual and collective perceptions’
Relational: ‘alter connections among people, groups, and interpersonal networks’
, Individualism vs. Holism
Aan iemand vragen begrijp dit niet -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGaz0xKG060
Challenge 2: interpretivism
Fundamentally different from Positivism
Social world and natural world are fundamental different
-> different methods needed
Social World
- Subjectively created
- Understanding human behavior by interpretation of meaning of social behavior
Examples of approaches: Hermeneutics, Critical Theory, Constructivism, Post-Colonialism,
Feminism
But: Some similarities in collecting evidence and establishing causal relations
Objectivity and values
Difficult for positivist scholars (begrijp dit ff niet?)
“[O]ne can do a good job predicting what a study will find by knowing the preferences of the
scholars who undertook it.” - Robert Jervis (2002: 188)
Objective’ social world means ‘objective’ assessment?
Researchers have values -> Source of bias?
Critical theory: Yes, can’t be separated!
Positivism: Well, let’s distinguish:
1. Normative Theory (what ought or should be)
2. Empirical Theory (what is)
Robert Cox: All theory is normative.
Max Weber: Distinguish, yes, but values cannot be ignored (e.g. what is seen as relevant,
point of view)
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