Political Science Research in Practice

323 Pages·2012·2.81 MB·English

by  Akan Malici

P S R P
OLITICAL CIENCE ESEARCH IN RACTICE
Nothing rings truer to those teaching political science research methods: students
hate taking this course. Tackle the challenge and turn the standard research
methods teaching model on its head with Political Science Research in Practice.
Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith engage students first with pressing political
questions and then demonstrate how a researcher has gone about answering
them, walking them through real political science research that contributors have
conducted. Through the exemplary use of a comparative case study, field
research, interviews, textual and interpretive research, statistical research, survey
research, public policy and program evaluation, content analysis, and field
experiments, each chapter introduces students to a method of empirical inquiry
through a specific topic that will spark their interest and curiosity. Each chapter
shows the process of developing a research question, how and why a particular
method was used, and the rewards and challenges discovered along the way.
Students can better appreciate why we need a science of politics – why methods
matter – with these first-hand, issue-based discussions.
The second edition now includes:
Two completely new chapters: one on field experiments and one on the
textual/interpretative method;
New topics, ranging from the Arab Spring to political torture, from
politically sensitive research in China to social networking and voter
turnout;
Revised and updated “Exercises and Discussion Questions” sections;
Revised and updated “Interested to Know More” and “Recommended
Resources” sections.
Akan Malici is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman
University. He authored When Leaders Learn and When They Don’t (SUNY 2008)
and The Search for a Common European Foreign and Security Policy (Palgrave
2008). He co-authored U.S. Presidents and Foreign Policy Mistakes (Stanford 2011)
and Role Theory and Role Conflict in U.S.–Iran Relations (Routledge 2016), and
co-edited Re-thinking Foreign Policy Analysis (Routledge 2011). He teaches
classes in International Politics and Research Methodology.
Elizabeth S. Smith is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman
University. She received her Ph.D. in American politics with a minor in political
psychology from the University of Minnesota. She has taught research
methodology for many years. Her work appears in the Journal of Political Science
Education, Polity, Political Psychology, The Handbook for Teaching Social Issues,
the American Education Research Journal and in Competition in Theory and
Practice (Sense Publishers 2009).
“Most methodology books focus on the dry nuts and bolts of empirical inquiry, and often fail to provide
an engaging pedagogical context for undergraduates. This book is different. By embedding
methodological discussions within the context of important substantive questions, this volume conveys
the science of politics in action. I only wish that such a book were available when I was a student.”
Howard Lavine, Arleen C. Carlson Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota
“Malici and Smith do two things we rarely see in research methods texts: they cover the rich, broad
spectrum of empirical approaches in the discipline and they convey these techniques through first-hand
examples. The result is a book that is engaging, accessible, and uniquely valuable to political science
students and instructors.”
Francis Neely, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University
“The timely update of Malici and Smith’s book helps students understand how political scientists
investigate real-world problems using a full spectrum of methodological tool sets. It continues the
previous edition’s one-of-a-kind storytelling approach that makes political science research approachable,
relevant, and even fun. It will be welcomed by both teachers and students of political science research
methods alike.”
Yi Edward Yang, Professor of Political Science, James Madison University
P S R
OLITICAL CIENCE ESEARCH IN
P
RACTICE
Second Edition
Edited by
Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith
C
ONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 WHY DO WE NEED A SCIENCE OF POLITICS?
Elizabeth S. Smith and Akan Malici
2 HOW DO WE GET A SCIENCE OF POLITICS?
Akan Malici and Elizabeth S. Smith
3 THE COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY METHOD: “UNCIVIL SOCIETY” IN THE
ARAB UPRISINGS
Zaid Eyadat
4 FIELD RESEARCH: NAVIGATING POLITICALLY SENSITIVE RESEARCH IN
CHINA
Katherine Palmer Kaup
5 INTERVIEWING IN POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH: WHO RESISTS
INJUSTICE?
Kristina Thalhammer
6 CRITICAL AND INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING
TORTURE’S POPULARITY IN THE UNITED STATES
Brent J. Steele
7 STATISTICAL RESEARCH: LACK OF CITIZENSHIP, THE ACHILLES’ HEEL
OF LATINO POLITICAL POWER
Adrian D. Pantoja and Sarah Allen Gershon
8 SURVEY RESEARCH: RELIGION AND ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR IN THE
UNITED STATES, 1936–2016
Lyman A. Kellstedt and James L. Guth
9 PUBLIC POLICY AND PROGRAM EVALUATION: DOES HIGH SCHOOL
TYPE AFFECT COLLEGE SUCCESS?
David J. Fleming, Joshua M. Cowen and Deven Carlson
10 CONTENT ANALYSIS: CONGRESSIONAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH
BROADCAST AND NEW MEDIA
C. Danielle Vinson
11 FIELD EXPERIMENTS: WIRED TO MOBILIZE: THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL
NETWORKING MESSAGES ON VOTER TURNOUT
Holly Teresi and Melissa R. Michelson
12 NORMATIVE AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
RESEARCH
Elizabeth S. Smith and Akan Malici
Glossary
Index
I
LLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
3.1 Mill’s Method of Agreement
3.2 Mill’s Method of Difference
11.1 A Classic Experimental Design
TABLES
4.1 Comparison of Villages
5.1 Categorization of Respondents on Two Dimensions
5.2 Responses to Attempts to Have Respondents Categorize Members of Groups
as “Like Me” or “Not Like Me”
5.3 Recalled Experiences Before 1976 Coup That Evoked Fear
7.1 Ordered Logistic Regressions Predicting Latino Immigrants’ Progress towards
Immigration
8.1 Republican Percent of Two-Party Vote for President by Major Religious
Traditions, 1936–2012
8.2 Presidential Vote Coalitions by Party and Religious Traditions, 1936–2012
8.3 Republican Vote for President for Major Religious Traditions, Controlling for
Traditionalism, 1988–2012
8.4 Religion and the 2016 Presidential Vote
9.1 Comparison of MPCP and MPS Matched Samples
9.2 High School Graduation and Postsecondary Enrollment Rates
9.3 Multivariate Analyses: Predicting Attainment Outcomes
10.1 Partial Content Code for Congressional Members’ Tweets
10.2 Congressional Members’ Reactions to the Parties on Social Media
11.1 Percent Voting, by Assignment to Treatment Group
11.2 Summary Statistics and Balance Tests
11.3 Logistic Regression: Effect of Assignment to Treatment Group on Turnout
N C
OTES ON ONTRIBUTORS
Deven Carlson is Presidential Research Professor, Associate Professor of Political
Science, and Associate Director for Education at the National Institute for Risk
and Resilience at the University of Oklahoma. He received his B.A. from St.
John’s University in Collegeville, MN and his M.P.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work has been published in Journal of
Policy Analysis and Management, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,
Journal of Urban Economics, Policy Studies Journal, Sociology of Education, and
many other journals and edited volumes.
Joshua M. Cowen, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Education Policy and Co-
Director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at the College of
Education at Michigan State University. His research currently focuses on teacher
quality, student and teacher mobility, program evaluation and education policy.
His work has been published in the American Educational Research Journal,
Economics of Education Review, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,
Education Finance and Policy, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management,
Sociology of Education, and Teachers College Record, among other outlets, and
has been funded by a diverse array of philanthropies, including the Laura and
John Arnold Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Smith Richardson
Foundation, the Spencer Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. He has
worked on program evaluations in Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan and
Wisconsin, and worked directly with state and district policymakers in Kentucky,
Michigan and Wisconsin to inform decision-making. Dr. Cowen is presently co-
editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, the flagship peer-reviewed
journal for education policy in the United States.
Zaid Eyadat is a Professor of Political Science and Human Rights, expert on