Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills PDF
Preview Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills
OXPORD Political Research Methods and Practical Skills y Sandra Halperin & Oliver Heath online resource centre Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills Political Research Methods and Practical Skills Sandra Halperin and Oliver Heath OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dares Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York C Oxford University Press, 2012 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) All rights reserved. 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Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY ISBN 978-0-19 955841-4 10 987654321 Contents 1 Political Research PART 1 Philosophy of Social Science: Knowledge and Knowing in Social Science Research 2 Forms of Knowledge: Laws, Explanation, and Interpretation in the Study of the Social World 3 Objectivity and Values 4 Methodological Individualism and Holism PART 2 How to Do Research: An Overview 5 Asking Questions: How to Find and Formulate Research Questions 6 Answering Research Questions: Requirements, Components, and Construction 7 Research Design PART 3 How to Do Research in Practice 8 Experimental Research 9 Comparative Research 10 Surveys 17 Interviewing and Focus Groups 12 Ethnography and Participant Observation 13 Textual Analysis CONTENTS 14 Quantitative Analysis: Description and Inference 338 15 Patterns of Association: Bivariate Analysis 366 16 A Guide to Multivariate Analysis 391 Appendix 419 Glossary 42S Index 433 DETAILED CONTENTS Questions 127 Guide to Further Reading 127 References 128 6 Answering Research Questions: Requirements, Components, and Construction 129 Chapter Summary 129 Introduction 129 Answers to research questions general requirements 132 What type of answer does your question require7 133 Answers that contribute to the development of theory 1 34 Where do hypotheses come from? 138 Illustration how an analysis of existing studies provides the basis for a hypothesis 139 Specifying your argument or answer: the nuts and bolts 144 The components of a hypothesis 144 Variables 144 Relationships 146 Conceptualization and operationalization 148 Concepts and concept formation what are you talking about? 148 Concept formation 149 Conceptualizing 'power': the search for theoretical utility 1 SO Conceptualizing 'democracy' mediating between coherence and differentiation 1S2 Operational definitions how will you know it when you see it? 1 S3 Illustration: Lenin's explanation of World War I 154 Answering normative questions 1S6 Empirical and normative research 1S7 Empirical and normative questions, answers, and methods 158 Conclusions !60 Questions !60 Guide to Further Reading 160 References 161 7 Research Design I64 Chapter Summary 164 Introduction 164 Basic principles of research design 165 Types of research design 167 Experimental designs 167 Data-gathering strategies: how the data are collected 174 Ethical research 178 Conclusions 180 Questions 180 Guide to Further Reading 181 References 182 detailed contents Values and social practice 6601 Thomas Kuhn and scientific revolutions ^ Paradigms and paradigm change Kuhnian paradigms and political studies: the case of development theory Paradigms and the study of development Imre Lakatos and scientific research programmes The role of values in research Kuhn and Lakatos compared Conclusions Questions Guide to Further Reading References 4 Methodological Individualism and Holism 78 Chapter Summary 78 Introduction 78 Individualism and holism 79 Methodological individualism and holism 80 Methodological individualism 80 Methodological holism 82 The politics of individualism and collectivism 86 Coleman's bathtub 88 Fallacies 90 Agents and structures in the study of politics 91 The agent-structure problem 92 The dialectical relationship between structures and agents 93 Conclusions 95 Questions 95 Guide to Further Reading 95 References % PART 2 Howto Do Research: An Overview 5 Asking Questions: How to Find and Formulate Research Questions 101 Chapter Summary Iq-j Introduction 1Q1 Research questions: What are they? Where do they come from? 104 Finding research questions 105 How to formulate a research(able) question -, 11 The research vase Types of questions getting clear about what you want to know ] 1 5 Unanswerable questions fallacies in framing research questions 120 The literature review ^ Conclusions 126
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