Northern
Department of Political Science
POLS 545
Qualitative Research
Methods
Fall 2007 TH 12:30-3:10
DU 464
Instructor: Artemus Ward
Office: 410 Zulauf Hall
Office Phone: 815-753-7041
E-mail:
Office Hours: T 12:30-2:00pm & by appointment.
This course is designed
to introduce you to the principles and methods of qualitative research. At the
beginning of this course, we will examine the place of qualitative research in
the field of political science as well as the relationship between qualitative
and quantitative methodology. Over the course of the semester, we will examine
some of the main methods used by qualitative researchers in the social sciences
such as participant observation, interviewing, archival research, and
historical analysis. Our examination will consist of readings, both theoretical
and applied, and hands-on assignments. This will allow us to not only analyze
the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each method, but also gain
experience using each approach. It is important to keep in mind, however, that
research projects often draw on a number of different data sources, both
qualitative and quantitative. Indeed, it is a general rule that research
questions should drive the approach and data—not the other way around.
This course has several
primary objectives. One goal is to familiarize you with the methodological and
epistemological debates concerning qualitative research. The second is to give
you a number of practical, applied tools during the course of the semester. The
third objective is to allow you to practice and implement these tools. The
fourth is to read and discuss work by qualitative researchers, especially
focusing on the lessons they learned and the challenges they faced. The final
goal is to help you understand how to move from project design, to project
implementation, to data analysis and reporting.
As this is a graduate
level Ph.D. course, attendance is assumed. You are required to do the assigned
reading and come to class prepared to discuss the material. Because this course
is a seminar, I will endeavor to speak as little as possible. You should be
prepared to discuss the assigned works in depth, listen to, and respond to the
remarks of your colleagues. Class participation is crucial in graduate courses
and will account for a substantial part of your course grade. If you miss
classes, generally do not come prepared and/or do not regularly participate,
you will fail this part of the course.
A primary difference in
this course versus similar courses in other fields is that you will be expected
to begin using these methods during the semester. Your first experience using
these methods should NOT be at the dissertation stage. Certainly no one would
suggest that your first experience doing quantitative methods should be during
your dissertation. Therefore, the best way to understand methods, both
quantitative and qualitative, is to practice them, refine them, and discuss
them.
Your final course grade
will be based on the following components:
Participation: 30%
Assignments: 30%
Research Paper: 40%
Seminar Participation:
30%
You are required to do the assigned reading and
come to class prepared to actively discuss the material. Because this course is
a seminar, I will endeavor to speak as little as possible. You should be
prepared to discuss the assigned works in depth and respond to the remarks of
your colleagues. I recommend coming to class with multiple questions and
comments for each seminar. You should aim for 3-5 quality questions/comments
each meeting. That said, there is such a thing as too much participation. Be
respectful of the other seminar participants and give others a chance to join
the conversation. Class participation is crucial in graduate courses and will
account for a substantial part of your course grade. If you miss classes,
generally do not come prepared and/or do not regularly participate, you will
fail this part of the class and severely jeopardize your overall course grade.
|
Seminar
Participation Grading Rubric |
||
|
Grade |
Percent |
General Grading
Definition |
|
A |
90-100 |
High
participation: 3-5 quality questions and/or comments EVERY seminar. Note:
regularly exceeding 5 may hurt your grade. |
|
B |
80-89 |
Good
participation: 1-2 quality questions and/or comments EVERY seminar. |
|
C |
70-79 |
Average
participation: 1-2 quality questions and/or comments every other seminar. |
|
D |
60-69 |
Below
average participation: 1-2 quality questions and/or comments every three or
four seminars. |
|
F |
0-59 |
Failing
participation: Rarely if ever providing quality questions/comments. |
Assignments: 30%
There
will be a number of assignments throughout the semester that require you to
implement and analyze various qualitative methods. Your analyses should be
thoughtful, specific, and detailed. Always provide examples when making
arguments and always be specific about the course readings and data that you
are analyzing. Assignments will be graded and returned to you one to two weeks
after they are due. Specific grading criteria are listed below for each
assignment. I will average all of your individual assignment grades for your
overall assignment score.
Research Paper: 40%
The
course will culminate in a research paper. The paper could be an early version
of a dissertation chapter or master’s thesis. It could be a “pilot” study for a
larger research project. It could also be a single, stand-alone article. The paper
should include a discussion of your research question, the motivation and
background for that question, a brief literature review, your defense of the
research methodology, a section discussing your data and results, and finally a
conclusion. You will need to justify your methods using the readings from the
course. Similarly, you should anticipate addressing some of the key debates and
problems of qualitative research within the paper as well. We will begin this
course discussing your ideas and shaping potential research questions. We will
then regularly review your progress on the project throughout the semester and
assist one another brainstorming on problems and challenges. Therefore, it is
wise to make the assignments part of your final research paper. One week before
we begin discussing the final papers, you must provide a copy of your paper to
each student in the class by posting it on Blackboard. We will discuss each one
in the seminar. Be prepared to give a brief presentation your paper (10-15
minutes) and also be prepared to offer feedback on the papers of your
colleagues. The papers should be no less than fifteen and no more than twenty-five,
double-spaced pages in length (not including your bibliography and any tables
and charts you may include).
Incompletes
If you feel that you
cannot complete the course requirements by the end of the semester, consider
taking an incomplete. Here is the language form the graduate catalog concerning
this process:
"Incompletes.
When special circumstances prevent a student’s completing the requirements of a
course, the instructor may, at her or his discretion, direct that the symbol I
(indicating temporary incomplete) be entered in the student’s record. When the
I is assigned, the instructor will file in the departmental office a statement
of the work to be completed and will set a deadline for the student to fulfill
this requirement. In no case may the deadline be later than the end of the next
term, including the summer session as one term, after the term for which the
incomplete had been assigned.
The incomplete must be removed within the
following term (including summer session) whether or not the student is
enrolled. If an extension in time is required to remove an I, an extension of
up to one term may be granted on the recommendation of the instructor and with
the approval of the office of the dean of the
If the student does not submit all required
work by the deadline established, the instructor may assign a grade that is
consistent with the work completed and the grading standards of the course. If
the instructor does not change the incomplete to a regular letter grade within
the period allowed for resolution, the incomplete (I) will be converted to a
permanent incomplete (IN). An IN is not counted in the computation of the grade
point average. The IN symbol may not subsequently be changed to a regular letter
grade on the basis of additional work submitted after the deadline for
resolution of the temporary incomplete. A student wishing credit in a course
for which IN has been recorded must enroll in the course again and receive a
grade based upon performance in the course during this enrollment.
Incompletes in courses numbered 599 and 699
(thesis, dissertation, and analogous courses) are exempt from the above
regulations. These incompletes must be removed by completing the specific work,
and by receiving a grade reflecting this work, in accordance with the
“Limitation of Time” indicated for each degree program. A student transferring
out of a thesis or dissertation program (or other program requiring course 599
or 699) may, at the discretion of the major department, receive credit for some
or all of the work already conducted under course number 599 or 699; otherwise,
any transcript entry of I (incomplete) or NR in 599 and 699 will be changed to
IN (permanent incomplete).
A student may not
graduate with a transcript entry of I (temporary incomplete) on his or her
record if the resolution of the incomplete could render the student ineligible
for graduation, whether or not the course involved is part of the student’s
official program of courses. "
To give you an idea of
what you can find out in a single interview and what professional interviewing
is like in political science, I would like you to listen to and read a sampling
of interviews. Please keep in mind that in any research project, you would do a
selection of interviews, not just one, and would supplement them with
documents, field observation, and any other data you could acquire. Still,
these examples will give you a sense of the sparkle and fun of political
science interviews. The following are professional interviews, but with
different styles, skill levels, and difficulty posed by the situation. Please
read each of the interviews assigned on the internet, and answer the relevant
questions about them. While you are at each of the websites, you might want to
explore them. Certainly give some attention to the purpose of the website, and
hence the purpose of the interview. Most of these are only a few pages long.
The interviews were chosen to represent a range of topics in political science
and variety of interview situations and purposes, as well as a range of styles.
A: Recent interview with former
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20051216-12175.html
B: June 27, 1995
interview with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice (then retired) Harry A.
Blackmun. Read first 20 pages or so of transcript beginning on this day, page
243:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/blackmun-public/page.html?page=243&size=640&SERIESID=D09&FOLDERID=D0901
You can also watch the
interview here: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/blackmun-public/series.html?ID=D10
C: November 15, 2001
interview with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1657368.stm
D: Interview with Eddie Thomas, Sr.,
http://www.usm.edu/crdp/html/transcripts/manuscript-thomas_eddie.shtml
First read or listen to
all of these interviews, and prepare a summary comparing the role of the
interviewer in each one. Be sure to be specific and provide examples for each
answer. Write at least one to two paragraph responses to each question:
1)
Aggressiveness:
Which interviewer was most
aggressive? Which one least aggressive? How were you able to determine
aggressiveness? Give examples from the interviews supporting your choices.
2)
Difficulty:
Which interview was the most
difficult to do? What made it difficult? Be specific about how you determined
this by giving examples.
3)
Accommodating:
Which interview prompted the best
answers? To answer this, you need to look at the questions and then summarize
the content of the answers, and look for a match.
4)
Stonewalling:
Which interviewer(s) did not get
answers to the questions he or she posed? Why not? Be specific about specific
interviews and provide specific evidence from the interviews you cite.
5)
Interviewer
Skill: Which interviewer was the
most skill? What makes you think so? How are you judging skilled? Provide
specific examples.
6)
Follow-Up
Questions: Please look for
follow-up questions and mark them in your downloaded version of the interview
if you can download and print them. How skillful are the follow-ups? What makes
a good follow-up question? Provide specific examples.
7)
Purpose
and Style: To what extent does
the purpose of the interview influence the style? How did you determine what
the purpose was? Again, provide specific examples.
8)
Prior
Knowledge: How much knowledge do
the interviewers demonstrate? Does knowledge make for better interviews? How
can you tell?
9)
Obstacles:
What obstacles did the
interviewers encounter in these interviews and how did they surmount them, or
did they fail to surmount them? Provide specific examples.
Now try your interviewing
skills. For this assignment you need to do two interviews on the same subject,
preferably with the same person or with two people on the same subject, so you
can learn from one interview before doing the next one. The choice of topic and
subjects is up to you. However, you may not interview any faculty member in the
political science department or division of public administration. KEEP THE INTERVEIWS
BRIEF! Formulate questions on the topic, be sure to listen to the answers,
follow up with questions of more depth. Consider whether you want to or are
able to record the interview. If so, should also take notes at the same time?
Write up and analyze your notes/transcript from interview one before deciding
what to ask on interview two. Code, analyze, and write up the results in a
brief paper, say about 3 pages. While you may briefly comment on your
experiences conducting the interviews and doing the analysis, focus on what you
learned from the substance of the interviews. Look for themes, categories, and
typologies through coding and simple counting techniques. What tables or charts
can you construct? Coded interview transcripts/notes must be included with your
mini report. I will be looking for greater depth and understanding from
interview two, building from interview one.
OK, you are ready to
start doing some observations and note taking. Find a site where you can
observe some activity or interaction, hopefully, but not necessarily related to
political science (the skills are the same whether the subject is political or
not). You can attend a council meeting or a planning session in DeKalb, a
student government meeting on campus, a county board meeting, health board
meeting, judicial proceeding, or even observe where you work, particularly if
it has something to do with government and politics. Pick a place early, and if
you are unsure whether it is appropriate, let me know what it is, so I can be
sure that you will see enough to work with. Take notes on as much of what is
going on as you can. You can also tape the meeting if that is allowed (usually
it is but make sure you check with the appropriate authority in advance). Fill
in your notes after the meeting as best you can. Then, analyze your notes
through coding and simple counting schemes. Tell me what happened, and what it
means, what concepts you can derive from your notes, what themes, what research
questions you might want to pursue. Turn in your observation notes, your coding
notes, and your analysis. Be sure to use examples from your notes or transcript
to prove the points you make in your analysis. Be prepared to discuss your
observation experiences in class.
For this assignment you
need to use an archive of unpublished material or published letters or
speeches, and use them as raw data to analyze. How many documents you analyze
is up to you. You should code them for concepts and themes, analyze the
results, and write up your analysis using excerpts and tables to prove your
points. When constructing tables, be sure they are complete with titles at the
top and sources used to derive the data at the bottom. Readers should be able
to understand your tables without having to read the paper. Turn in your
3-5-page analysis and coding sheets. The difficulties of this kind of work
often lay in selectivity biases, so you have to choose your material and themes
carefully to be sure you can answer the questions you pose with some rigor. I
do a lot of this kind of analysis and am always running into reviewers who are
concerned about replication and falsifiability. Could another researcher
replicate your study? Is it possible that the same data could lead to the
opposite result? Carefully formulate rival hypotheses and show how you can
eliminate them or why your conclusions are stronger or more useful than
potential rival hypotheses.
There are countless
possible sources, of primary material including government websites. Here are a
few examples:
·
The
o The
·
The
Manuscript Division of the United States Library of Congress, housed in the
·
The National
Archives of the
·
American
political party platforms (1840-2004): http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php
·
The Papers of
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/index.html
In this assignment you
are to identify a political institution or process and conduct a brief
historical institutional analysis. Instead of simply recounting the history, or
facts, of the institution or process over time, your assignment is to identify
the major developments or changes that occurred over time. Try to choose a
small, manageable institution or process. An analysis of French foreign policy
since the revolution, the U.S. Agriculture Department, or the Cuban Judiciary
are all far too broad to tackle for the purposes of this assignment (though
they may very well be viable dissertation topics). Instead, think small: French
foreign policy toward
Fenno, Richard F., Watching
Politicians: Essays on Participant Observation (Berkeley, CA: Institute of
Governmental Studies Press, 1990).
Pierson, Paul, Politics
in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis (Princeton:
Rubin, Irene, and Herbert
J. Rubin, Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data (Sage,
1995).
Silverman, David, Interpreting
Qualitative Data: Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction, 2nd
ed. (
Note: All other required readings for this class can be
accessed in one of three ways. Most of the articles are available through
the online database JSTOR. Newly released articles can be
accessed though Article First, another database to which the library
subscribes. All other readings have been placed on library electronic
reserve: http://www.niulib.niu.edu/narnia/pols5ward/pols545.htm
Berg, Bruce, Qualitative Research for the Social
Sciences (
Cook, Judith A. and Mary M. Fonow, Beyond Methodology:
Feminist Scholarship As Lived Research (Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1991).
Devault, Marjorie, L., Liberating Method: Feminism and
Social Research (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999).
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw, Writing
Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
Gerring, John, Case
Study Research: Principles and Practices (
Gerring, John and David Collier, eds., Concepts and Method: Giovanni Sartori and
His Legacy (
King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing
Social Inquiry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).
Krueger, Richard A., Analyzing and Reporting Focus
Group Results (Sage, 1997).
Kuhn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd
ed. (Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press, 1996).
Morgan, David L., Focus Groups as Qualitative Research,
2nd ed. (Sage, 1997).
Orren, Karen and Stephen Skowronek, The Search for
American Political Development (
Seidman, Irving, Interviewing As Qualitative Research:
A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences, 2nd
ed. (Teachers College Press, 1998).
Silverman, David, Doing Qualitative Research: A
Practical Handbook (Sage, 1999).
Wolf, Diane L., Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork
(Westview Press, 1996).
Note: You may also want to consult Qualitative
Methods – the newsletter of the Qualitative Methods section of the
American Political Science Association.
Introductions, research
agendas, and questions. Course Overview.
Required:
·
Silverman, Interpreting
Qualitative Data, Ch.1 Beginning Research, Ch.2 What is Qualitative
Research, Ch.8 Credible Qualitative Research, Ch.9 Relevance and Ethics.
·
Beck,
Nathaniel, “Causal Process ‘Observation’: Oxymoron or Old Wine,” Paper prepared
for short-course “SC1: Multi-Method Research,” annual meeting of the American
Political Science Association,
·
Collier,
David, Henry E. Brady, and Jason Seawright, “Sources of Leverage in Causal
Inference,” Paper prepared for short-course “SC1: Multi-Method Research,”
annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL,
August 29, 2007.
·
Recommended:
Ř Dahl,
Robert, “The Behavioral Approach to Political Science: An Epitaph for a
Monument to a Successful Protest,” American Political Science Review 55
(1961): 763-72.
Ř Glaser,
Barney G. and Anselm L. Strauss, Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies
for Qualitative Research (Aldine de Gruyter, 1967).
Ř Almond,
Gabriel A. and Stephen J. Genco, “Clouds, Clocks, and the Study of Politics,” World
Politics 29 (1977): 489-522.
Ř King,
Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994).
Ř Corbin,
Juliet M. and Anselm Strauss, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and
Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. (Sage, 1998).
Ř
Becker, Howard S., Tricks of the Trade: How to
Think About Your Research While You Are Writing It (Chicago: University
Press of Chicago, 1998).
Ř
“Symposium:
Teaching Qualitative Methods,” Qualitative
Methods 1 (No.1, Spring 2003):
§
Keohane,
Robert, “Disciplinary Schizophrenia: Implications for Graduate Education in
Political Science,” 9-12;
§
Munck,
Gerardo L., “Teaching Qualitative Methodology: Rationale, State of the Art, and
an Agenda,” 12-5;
§
Mahoney,
James, “What Courses on Qualitative Methods Should be Offered in Political
Science Graduate Programs?” 15-8;
§
Feldman,
Martha and Ann Chih Lin, “Teaching Qualitative Methods: The Importance of
Understanding Interpretive and Positive Epistemologies,” 18-20;
§
Waldner,
David, “Teaching the Metatheoretics of Qualitative Methodology,” 20-2;
§
Saxonhouse,
Arlene, “The Liabilities of Amnesia: Why a Course in the ‘History of Political
Science’?” 22-4;
§
Kier,
Elizabeth, “Designing a Qualitative Methods Syllabus,” 24-6;
§
Barndt,
William, “Qualitative Methods Textbooks,” 26-8;
§
Yang,
David D., “Qualitative Methods Syllabi,” 28-30.
Ř
Collier,
David and Henry E. Brady, eds., Rethinking
Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards (
Ř
“Special
Issue on Causal Complexity and Qualitative Methods,” Political Analysis 14 (No.3, Summer 2006):
§
Goertz,
Gary, “Introduction to the Special Issue,” 223-6;
§
Mahoney,
James and Gary Goertz, “A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and
Qualitative Research,” 227- 49;
§
Bennett,
Andrew and Colin Elman, “Complex Causal Relations and Case Study Methods: The
Example of Path Dependence,” 250-67;
§
Braumoeller,
Bear F., “Explaining Variance; Or, Stuck in a Moment We Can’t Get Out Of,”
268-90;
§
Ragin,
Chares C., “Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and
Coverage,” 291-310;
§
Clark,
William Roberts, Michael J. Gilligan, and Matt Golder, “A Simple Multivariate
Test for Asymmetric Hypotheses,” 311-31.
-- “Symposium on Rethinking
Social Inquiry:
§
Rihoux,
Benoit, “Two Methodological Worlds Apart? Praises and Critiques from a European
Comparativist,” 332-5;
§
Schrodt,
Philip A., “Beyond the Linear Frequentist Orthodoxy,” 335-9;
§
Bennett,
Andrew, “Stirring the Frequentist Pot with a Dash of Bayes,” 339-44;
§
§
Beck,
Nathaniel, “Is Causal-Process Observation an Oxymoron?” 347-52;
§
Brady,
Henry E., David Collier, and Jason Seawright, “Toward a Pluralistic Vision of
Methodology,” 347-52.
Questions:
o
In qualitative research, is it better to use the
researcher’s categories or the participant’s categories?
o
Can one begin conducting research without a
hypothesis?
o
It has been argued that “objectivity” in social
science research is “an excuse for a power relationship every bit as obscene as
the power relationship that leads women to be sexually assaulted, murdered and
otherwise treated as mere objects.” Is this correct?
o
What is triangulation?
o What
ethical obligations do qualitative researchers have?
Required:
·
Rubin, Irene,
and Herbert J. Rubin, Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data
(Sage, 1995).
·
Silverman, Interpreting
Qualitative Data, Ch.4 Interviews.
·
Kathlene,
Lyn, “Alternative Views of Crime: Legislative Policymaking in Gendered Terms,” Journal
of Politics 57 (1995): 696-723.
Recommended:
Ř Piaget,
Jean, The Child’s Conception of the World
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1930).
Ř Mayo,
Elton, The Social Problems of an
Industrial Civilization (New York, MacMillan, 1933).
Ř Freud,
Sigmund, Therapy and Technique (New
York: Collier, 1963).
Ř Spradley,
James, The Ethnographic Interview (New
York: Hold, Rinehart & Winston, 1979).
Ř Mishler,
Elliot G., Research Interviewing: Context
and Narrative (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986).
Ř Seidman,
Irving, Interviewing As Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in
Education and the Social Sciences, 2nd ed. (Teachers College
Press, 1998), Ch.6: “Technique isn’t everything, but it is a lot,” Ch.8:
“Analyzing, Interpreting, and Sharing Interview Material.”
Questions:
o
What is transparency? Is it important in interview
research and qualitative research in general?
o
What is the difference between positive and
interpretive interviewing? What is constructivist interviewing and how is it different
from both positive and interpretive approaches?
o It is
argued that the danger of anectodatlism—reporting “typical” responses, brief
extracts, or examples from your interviews—is that they can be used to support
a preconceived argument rather than to test it. If this is the case, are the
strategies of tabulating many cases and investigating deviant cases helpful in
mitigating these dangers?
Assignment #1 Due. We will discuss your findings in class.
Required:
·
David L. Morgan, “Focus Groups,” Annual Review of Sociology 22 (1996): 129-52.
·
John Bartle,
“Measuring Party Identification: An Exploratory Study with Focus Groups,” Electoral
Studies 22 (2003): 217-37.
·
Diane J. Heith, “One for All: Using Focus Groups and Opinion Polls in
the George H.W. Bush White House,” Congress & the Presidency 30 (2003): 82-94.
·
Pamela Johnston Conover, Donald D. Searing, and Ivor Crewe, “The
Elusive Ideal of Equal Citizenship: Political Theory and Political Psychology
in the
Questions:
o
Must focus groups have
structured question formats?
o
Should focus groups be
supplemented with other research methods?
o
To what extent did
these authors succeed or fail to be transparent in describing their
methodology? Will other researchers be able to replicate their studies?
Required:
·
Silverman, Interpreting
Qualitative Data, Ch.3. Ethnography and Observation
·
Fenno,
Richard, Watching Politicians: Essays on Participant Observation (Berkeley:
Institute of Governmental Studies, 1990).
·
Dunning,
Thad, “Improving Causal Inference: Strengths and Limitations of Natural
Experiments,” Paper prepared for short-course “SC1: Multi-Method Research,”
annual meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Recommended:
Ř
Geertz,
Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), especially
“Deep
Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.”
Ř
Emerson,
Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw, Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
Ř
Stewart,
Alex, The Ethnographer’s Method (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
1998).
Ř
Bayard
Questions:
o
Is it useful to distinguish between observation
and participant observation?
o
Is Fenno’s method
observation, participant observation, or something else?
o
Is there ever a point,
ethically or otherwise, when an observer should become a participant observer?
o What is the relationship between observation (or
participant observation) and interviews?
o Are natural experiments different from observation?
Assignment #2 Due. We will discuss your findings in class.
Required:
·
Cook, Judith
A. and Mary M. Fonow, Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived
Research (Indiana University Press, 1991).
o Ch.2. Kathryn Payne Addelson, “The Man Of Professional Wisdom,” 16-34;
o Ch.3. Patricia Hill Collins, “Learning From The Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought,” 35-59;
o Ch.5. Toby Epstein Jayaratne and Abigail J. Stewart, “Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences: Current Feminist Issues and Practical Strategies,” 85-106;
o Ch.6. Lynn Weber Cannon, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Marianne L.A. Leung, “Race and Class Bias In Qualitative Research on Women,” 107-18.
Recommended:
Ř Spalter-Roth,
Roberta and Heidi Hartmann, “Small Happiness: The Feminist Struggle to
Integrate Social Research with Social Activism” in Sharlene Hesse-Biber, Feminist
Approaches to Theory and Methodology: An Interdisciplinary Reader (New
York: Oxford Press, 1999).
Ř
Devault, Marjorie, L., Liberating Method:
Feminism and Social Research (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999).
Ř Berg,
Bruce. Ch.7 “Action Research,” in Qualitative Methods for the Social
Sciences (
Questions:
o
How is Kathryn Payne
Addelson’s argument related to Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions?
o
What does Kathryn Payne
Addelson mean when she discusses “conventional understandings” by “significant
communicators”? Is this a useful way of thinking about political science?
o
According to Patricia Hill Collins, what is
“outsider within” status and how might it be useful for political science?
o
What is Black feminist thought and how is it
related to research methods?
o
According to Jayaratne and Stewart, are quantitative
methods antithetical to feminist research?
o
According to Jayaratne and Stewart, is
“objective” research necessary if researchers are to have an effect on public
policy?
o
According to Cannon, et. al., what are the
consequences of failing to account for such respondent characteristics as race
and class in qualitative research designs?
o How can
qualitative researchers make sure that race, class, and other demographic
variables are incorporated into their research designs?
Assignment #3 Due. We will discuss your findings in class.
Required:
·
Patterson,
Molly and Kristen Renwick Monroe, “Narrative in Political Science,” Annual
Review of Political Science 1 (1998): 315-31
·
Stivers,
Camilla, “Reflections on the Role of Personal Narrative in Social Science,”
Signs 18 (1993): 408-25.
·
Buthe, Tim,
“Taking Temporality Seriously: Modeling History and the Use of Narratives as
Evidence,” American Political Science Review 96 (2002): 481-93.
·
Herzog,
Richard J. and Ronald G. Claunch, “Stories Citizens Tell and How Administrators
Use Types of Knowledge,” Public Administration Review 57 (1997): 374-9.
Recommended:
Ř Bates,
Robert, Avner Grief, Margaret Levi, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, and Barry Weingast,
Analytical Narratives (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998).
Ř Somers,
MR, and GD Gibson, “Reclaiming the epistemological ‘other’: narrative and the
social constitution of identity,” in Social Theory and the Politics of
Identity, ed. C Calhoun (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1994), 35-99.
Ř Polkinghorne,
Donald E., Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences (Albany, NY: SUNY
Press, 1988).
Questions:
o
What is the difference between narratives and
unstructured interviewing?
o
How are narratives related to post-structuralism
and postmodernism?
o
How are narratives related to paradigms?
o
Why is history particularly important in social
science/political science narrative analysis?
o
Why do many social scientists find narratives
objectionable as a methodological too?
o
According to Patterson and Monroe, why are
exclusions, omissions, pauses, and silences important in narrative analysis?
o
According to Stivers, what is the relationship
between positivism and paradigms?
o
How does Stivers’ critique of positivism relate to
narrative analysis?
o According
to Stivers, is there no such thing as Truth? What is the difference between
Truth and agreement?
o What is
the relationship between narrative and ethnography?
o According
to Stivers, is there a difference between fact and fiction, between history and
literature, between science and art? What is an autobiography? What is a
memoir?
o According
to Stivers, what is the role of critique in social science?
o Based
on the typology provided by Somers & Gibson, as discussed in Patterson and
Monroe, which of the four separate kinds of narratives is Büthe suggesting be
used is historical research?
o How
does Büthe define “history”?
o According
to Büthe, how is it possible and why is it desirable to model history?
o Why
does Büthe think that
narratives are especially useful in testing models about historical processes?
And how does he propose narratives be used to do this?
o According
to Büthe, what is the difference between using multiple narratives and
alternative narratives? Which technique should researchers employ?
o What is
the “boundary” problem in research, and particularly in historical studies? How
does the researcher overcome it?
o What
does Büthe say is the relationship between history and Truth?
o From
where do Herzog and Claunch derive the “seven categories of knowledge” they
discuss?
o What is
“garbage knowledge” as discussed by Herzog and Claunch? Is this information
useful to policymakers? Researchers? Does garbage knowledge bear any
relationship to Patterson and
o How did
Herzog and Claunch derive manager responses to the citizen data?
o Did the
researchers, Herzog and Claunch, have any effect on the behavior of the city
managers?
Discuss work-in-progress
on Assignment 4.
Required:
·
Silverman, Interpreting
Qualitative Data:
·
Peregrine
Schwartz-Shea & Dvora Yanow, “‘
Recommended:
Ř
The
Ř Coffey,
Amanda and Paul Atkinson, Making Sense of Qualitative Data (London:
Sage, 1996).
Ř McKee,
Alan, Textual Analysis: A Beginner’s Guide (
Ř Emmison,
Michael and Phillip Smith, Researching the Visual: Images, Objects, Contexts and Interactions in Social and
Cultural Inquiry (
Ř
Rose, Gillian, Visual
Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials (
Questions:
o
According to Silverman, what is the difference
between content analysis and other forms of textual analysis?
o
What is a “membership categorization device”
(MCD)?
o
Is there a difference between researcher-provoked
data and naturally occurring talk?
o
What is the difference between working from a
transcript versus the actual recording?
o
What is conversation analysis (CA)? Is it
different from interviewing?
o
What is discourse analysis (DA)? What is its
relationship to CA?
o
What are “stakes” and “scripts”?
o
Is analysis of visual images preferable to text?
o
What is semiotics and how is it used in the
analysis of visuals?
o
What is the difference between denotation and
connotation in visual analysis?
o
How is MCD related to visual analysis?
o According
to Schwartz-Shea and Yanow, how are research methods texts constructed?
Exercise: In class we
will do a textual analysis. I will provide the text.
Required:
·
Lijphart,
Arend, “The Comparable-Cases Strategy in Comparative Research,” Comparative
Political Studies, 8 (1975): 158-77.
·
Victoria E.
Bonnell, “The Uses of Theory, Concepts and Comparison in Historical Sociology,”
Comparative Studies in Society and History 22 (1980): 154-73.
·
Theda Skocpol
and Margaret Somers, “The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry,” Comparative
Studies in Society and History 22 (1980): 174-97.
·
Elizabeth
Nichols, “Skocpol on Revolution: Comparative Analysis vs. Historical
Conjuncture,” Comparative Social Research 9 (1986) 163-86.
·
Theda
Skocpol, “Analyzing Causal Configurations in History: A Rejoinder to Nichols,” Comparative
Social Research 9 (1986) 187-94.
·
David Collier
and James E. Mahon, Jr., “Conceptual ‘Stretching’ Revisited: Adapting
Categories in Comparative Analysis,” American Political Science Review
87 (1993): 845-55.
·
Gerring,
John, “What is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political
Science Review 98 (2004): 341-54.
Recommended:
Ř Campbell,
Donald T., “‘Degrees of Freedom’ and the Case Study,” Comparative Political
Studies 8 (1975): 178-93.
Ř Skocpol,
Theda, States and Social Revolutions (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
University Press, 1979).
Ř Coppedge,
Michael, “Thickening Thin Concepts and Theories: Combining Large N and Small in
Comparative Politics,” Comparative Politics 31 (1999): 465-76.
Ř Odell,
John S., “Case Study Methods in International Political Economy,” International
Studies Perspectives 2 (2001): 161-76.
Ř Chwieroth,
Jeffrey M., “Counterfactuals and the Study of the American Presidency,” Presidential
Studies Quarterly 32 (2002): 293-327.
Ř Mahoney,
James and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative
Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press, 2003).
Ř George,
Alexander L. and Andrew Bennett, Case
Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (
Ř Mahoney,
James and Gary Goertz, “The Possibility Principle: Choosing Negative Cases in
Comparative Research,” American Political Science Review 98 (2004):
653-69.
Ř Sekhon,
Jasjeet S., “Quality Meets Quantity: Case Studies, Conditional Probability, and
Counterfactuals,” Perspectives on Politics 2 (2004): 281-93.
Ř
Pahre, Robert, “Formal Theory and Case-Study
Methods in EU Studies,” European Union Politics 6 (2005): 113-46.
Ř Gerring, John, Case Study Research: Principles
and Practices (
Ř Gerring,
John and David Collier, eds., Concepts
and Method: Giovanni Sartori and His Legacy (
Questions:
Lijphart
o
According to Lijphart, what are the four basic
methods of discovering and establishing general empirical propositions?
o
What is the difference between the comparative
method and a comparative perspective, or the comparative politics subfield of
political science?
o
When is it most appropriate to use the comparative
method?
o
According to Lijphart, what are the four ways of
minimizing the problem of “many variables, small N?”
o
Is there a difference between the comparative and
case study methods?
o
According to Lijphart, what is the difference
between the comparative and statistical method?
o
What is Lijphart’s “comparable-cases strategy?”
o
According to Lijphart, in choosing cases how much
variance should the researcher be looking for among the independent, control,
and dependent variables?
o
What is the “whole-nation bias” in comparative
politics research and what is the related problem for the field of international
relations? How does Lijphart’s comparable-cases approach remedy this?
o
What is the danger of “conceptual stretching?” How
can this problem be avoided?
o
How does Lijphart respond to the following
criticisms: 1) there are so many differences between cases that sufficiently
similar cases can never be found; 2) a comparative approach only leads to
partial generalizations; and 3) research sites, data, and methods will
inevitably dictate hypotheses?
Bonnell
o
According to Bonnell, what are the disciplinary
differences between historians and sociologists?
o
What is a posteriori reasoning and how can it be
used in historical analysis?
o
What is the difference between “analytical” and
“illustrative” forms of comparison in historical-sociological research?
o
According to Skocpol and Somers, what are the
three major logics of comparative-historical inquiry?
o
How are cases selected when undertaking a parallel
demonstration of theory?
o
In parallel comparative history, should
theoretical models and hypotheses be developed before or after examining
historical case studies? Why?
o
What is the difference between parallel
comparative history and contrast-oriented comparative history?
o
What role does hypothesis testing and
multi-variate analysis play in macro-causal comparative history?
o
According to John Stuart Mill, what are the two
basic analytic designs that macro-analysts employ and how does Skocpol use both
in States and Social Revolutions (1979)?
o
According to Skocpol and Somers, can the three
logics of comparative-historical analysis be combined?
o
According to Skocpol and Somers, how important is
historical narrative, thick description, and chronology in macro-causal
comparative history?
o
According to Skocpol and Somers, how do the three
logics of comparative-historical analysis form a complementary cycle?
o
Nichols argues that Skocpol is not clear about
whether she is explaining revolution or revolutionary success. What is the
difference and why does Nichols claim that this matters? How does Skocpol
respond?
o
What is Nichols’ criticism about Skocpol’s
research design: specifically how Skocpol treats theory and derives her
variables?
o
What is Nichols’ criticism about Skocpol’s use of
“historical conjuncture”?
o
What does Nichols say are Skocpol’s three classes
of variables? Does Skocpol consistently apply Mill’s joint method of agreement
and difference to each class/level? What happens to Skocpol’s argument when
Nichols applies Mill’s joint method? How does Skocpol respond? Specifically,
what is Skocpol’s point about the interaction effects of variables?
o
How can Skocpol’s argument be falsified?
o
Can Skocpol’s theory of revolution be applied to
any state at any time? Is it universal?
o
Why does Nichols’ highlight Skocpol’s treatment of
the Iranian case? What does Skocpol say about Nichols’ argument?
o
According to Nichols, how does Skocpol treat
modernization as a factor in revolution? How does she treat subjective factors
like ideology and religion? How does Skocpol respond?
o
In the article by Collier and
o
According to Collier and
o
What is classical categorization or taxonomy?
o
What is the difference between categorical
extension and intension?
o
How does classical categorization—i.e. the “ladder
of generality”— help solve the problem of conceptual stretching?
o
What are “family resemblance categories” and how
are they different from classical categories?
o
Does the concept of family resemblance categories
counter Nichols’ criticism of Skocpol’s treatment of the Iranian revolution?
o
What is a “system-specific” approach to defining
the properties of a category? Is this a useful technique?
o
What are radial categories? How do they relate to
classical categories?
o
How should researchers use primary and secondary
categories, in order to avoid the problem of conceptual stretching in classical
categorization on the one hand and radial categorization on the other?
o
According to Collier and
Gerring:
o
How does Gerring define a case study? How is this
different from other definitions?
o
Why does Gerring argue that “case study” is really
a misnomer and that “unit study” is more appropriate?
o
How does case study research relate to cross-unit
analysis such as comparative historical work?
o
What does Gerring say about the classic N=1
research design, which haunts the imaginations of social scientists? What is a
study of a single unit observed at a single point in time without the addition
of within-unit cases?
o Is the
case study research design compatible with the major theoretical frameworks of
social science such as behavioralism, rational choice, institutionalism, and
interpretivism?
Assignment #4 Due. Be prepared to discuss your experiences in class.
Required:
·
Collier,
David, Jody LaPorte, and Jason Seawright, “Putting Typologies to Work: Tools
for Comparative Analysis,” Paper prepared for short-course “SC1: Multi-Method Research,”
annual meeting of the American Political Science Association,
·
Collier,
David, Jody LaPorte, and Jason Seawright, “Inventory of Multi-Dimensional Typologies,”
prepared for short-course “SC1: Multi-Method Research,” annual meeting of the
American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 29, 2007.
·
Lustick, Ian
S., “History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical
Records and the Problems of Selection Bias,” American Political Science
Review 90 (1996): 605-18.
·
Thies,
Cameron G., “A Pragmatic Guide to Qualitative Historical Analysis in the Study
of International Relations,” International Studies Perspectives 3
(2002): 351-72.
Recommended:
·
Elman, Colin, “Explanatory Typologies in
Qualitative Studies of International Politics,” International Organization 59 (No.2, spring, 2005): 293-326.
Questions:
·
Are typologies useful in political science
research?
·
What are the advantages and disadvantages to using
typologies?
·
What is the difference between “history” and “historiography”
or “histories”?
·
Why should we study historiography rather than
history? What are the advantages?
·
Should political scientists who conduct historical
analyses conduct primary research or can they rely on secondary sources?
·
In the contemporary discipline of history, what is
the difference between “Rankeans” and “Annalists”?
·
How does Lustick’s article relate to the arguments
made by feminist researchers?
·
What does Lustick urge that researchers do when
selecting source material and constructing background narratives? How does he
do it in his own work?
·
According to Lustick, can we choose one particular
approach or school of historiography over others to base our historical
analysis on? If so, which one do we choose? What does Thies say about this?
·
According to Lustick, can we look for regularities
in different historical treatments and then deem those as authoritative, or
true? How does this approach increase our “N”? How is Thies critical of this
approach?
·
What is “quasi-triangulation”? How is it different
from looking for regularities in multiple historical treatments?
·
What is “explicit triage”? How is this related to
the issue of transparency? What role do footnotes play in this approach? What
are the problems to this approach?
·
In the article by Thies, what are manifest and
latent events? How are they the source of most historiographical disputes?
·
According to Thies, why should we triangulate
contemporary, primary sources? What are the benefits?
·
According to Thies, can we rely on a single
historian’s account of an event?
·
Why does Thies urge new scholars to mimic or
emulate the work of senior, respected scholars in their field?
·
What is “presentism” or “whiggishness” is
historical analysis? Is it a problem?
·
When consulting secondary sources, should you start
with the oldest account and move forward toward the present or start with the
most recent and work backward? Why?
·
Should political scientists consult historians
before conducting research and should they have historians review their work?
·
Do quantitative analyses based on large-N data
sets avoid the problems of selectivity and bias that plague historical
research?
Required:
·
Pierson,
Paul, Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis (Princeton:
Recommended:
·
Burnham, Walter D., Critical Elections and the
Mainsprings of American Politics (New York: W.W. Norton, 1970).
·
Skocpol, Theda, Protecting Soldiers and
Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the
·
Robertson, David Brian, “The Return to History and
the New Institutionalism in American Political Science,” Social Science
History 17 (1993): 1-36.
·
Skowronek, Stephen, The Politics Presidents
Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1993).
·
Hall, Peter A. and Rosemary C.R. Taylor,
“Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms,” Political Studies 44
(1996): 936-57.
·
Immergut, Ellen, “The Theoretical Core of the New
Institutionalism,” Politics & Society 26 (1998): 5-34.
·
Thelen, Kathleen, “Historical Institutionalism in
Comparative Perspective,” Annual Review of Political Science 2 (1999):
369-404.
·
Schickler, Eric, Disjointed Pluralism:
Institutional Innovation and the Development of the
·
Orren, Karen and Stephen Skowronek, The Search
for American Political Development (
·
Thelen, Kathleen, How Institutions Evolve: The
Political Economy of Skills in
Questions:
·
Why does Pierson say, “this is not a book about
methods”?
·
What is path dependence and how is it related to
positive feedback?
·
What are the implications of Pierson’s statement,
“Most variable-oriented research assumes a world without positive feedback,
where history washes out and sequence is irrelevant. We only need to know the
values of variables at the moment of interest, not the sequence through which
these factors developed.”
·
What are “conjunctures” and when do they happen?
Can they be predicted? Must we settle for Dr. Seuss-style, post-hoc
explanations?
·
According to Pierson, what can rational choice
teach us about temporal order in political processes? How does Pierson say that
rational choice falls short, however, as a universal method of explaining
political processes?
·
What are “downstream dynamics”? Is a political
process “locked in” once path dependence begins?
·
In discussing Jacob Hacker’s (1998) comparative
study of health care, why does Pierson say that recent proponents of national
health care in the
·
What is the difference between cumulative causes
and threshold effects? Are path-dependent processes always the result of long,
slow, cumulative build-ups?
·
Why does most political science research fall into
Pierson’ Quadrant 1 (Table 3.2, 3.3)? Is this problematic? If so, what can be
done to remedy this?
·
What does Pierson say about functional
explanations of institutional origins and change? Why are theories of
actor-centered functionalism and societal functionalism “radically incomplete”?
·
What are “critical junctures”?
·
Why are political “losers” important for
generating institutional change?
·
Why is it important to examine overlapping
institutions/processes and interaction effects? Can one explain institutional
development solely by an internal examination of the institution in question?
·
What is the difference between the three types of
institutional change: layering, conversion, and diffusion?
·
Can these problems in studying institutional
development be overcome: prediction, selection bias, focus on immediate sources
of change or triggers, and a preoccupation with demands/pressures for change?
·
What is institutional resilience and what four
factors does Pierson identify that make it difficult for institutions to
change?
·
What are “regimes”?
·
What is a “deep equilibrium”?
·
Is a public policy an institution?
·
According to Pierson, what was the “decontextual
revolution”?
·
According to Pierson, why is it necessary for
political scientists to adopt strict boundary conditions in their research?
·
Why should we be weary of researchers who use
pooled time-series regression analysis? Is there a right way and a wrong way to
use this method?
·
Why is it important for researchers to specify
which aspects of context can potentially be applied in multiple settings?
·
What are the benefits of multiple research efforts
coordinated by communication among multiple scholars?
·
Should multiple methods be used in temporal
analysis of institutions?
·
Should political scientists shift their focus from
causal laws to the explication of social mechanisms?
Assignment #5 Due. Students should be prepared to briefly
discuss their assignment. You may want to bring handouts/overheads and/or use
the board to explain your analysis.
Week 13. Nov. 22. No Class.
Final Research Papers
Due. Everyone must post their
papers by Sunday night Nov. 25th. Be sure to print out, read, and
ideally make written comments for each paper posted to Blackboard. We will
discuss each paper in the following weeks.
Required: Read final research
papers: last names beginning with the letters M-Z. Be prepared to ask questions
and provide comments.
Due: Students with last names beginning with the letters M-Z will very briefly (5-10 min) discuss their research proposal.
Required: Read final
research papers: last names beginning with the letters A-N. Be prepared to ask
questions and provide comments.
Due: Students with
last names beginning with the letters A-N will very briefly (5-10 min) discuss
their research proposal.
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material, including this syllabus and the lectures associated with this class,
are protected by copyright law as my own original expression. Students are authorized to take notes in
class and thus create their own “derivative work” from my lecture, but this
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