Comparative Politics - Week 1 (Comparative Research Methods) Flashcards
what does comparative politics deal with
empirical questions and interactions within political systems
what does comparative politics focus on
internal political structures, actors and processes, and analysing them empirically by describing, explaining and predicting their variety across political systems
what are the three focal points of comparative politics
intra-national
political systems
comparison across systems or over time
what does the scientific method refer to
a standardised set of techniques for building scientific knowledge
what is scientific knowledge
a generalised body of laws and theories that explain a phenomenon or behaviour of interest that are acquired using the scientific method
what four characteristics should the scientific method satisfy
replicability
precision
falsifiability
parsimony
what is precision
concepts which are hard to measure, must be defined with such precision that others can use those definitions to measure those concepts and test that theory
what is falsifiability
a theory must be stated in such a way that can be reasonably tested and disproven
what is parsimony
when there are multiple explanations of a phenomenon, scientists must always accept the simplest explanation
what is a theory
a set of systematically interrelated concepts and propositions intended to explain and predict a phenomenon or behaviour of interest, within certain boundary conditions and assumptions
what is the importance of observations in reference to theories
a theory is only as good as the observations it is built on
what is a hypothesis
an empirical formulation of propositions, stated as a relationship between variables
what is a concept
a generalizable property or characteristic associated with an object, event, or person
what is a construct
an abstract concept that is specifically chosen/created to explain a given phenomenon
what is an operational definition?
a concept/construct in terms of how it will be empirically measured