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
what is a varialbe
an attribute of a concept that can take on different values
what is a variable
an attribute of a concept that can take on different values
what is a dependent variable
a variable that explains another variable
what is an independent variable
a variable that explains another variable (the potential cause of change in another variable)
what is a control variable
an independent variable that is not the focus of a study, included to account for confounding relationships
what is inductive research
used to infer concepts and patterns from observed data to create theory
what are deductive methods
a social phenomenon is observed -> a theory is developed to explain why it occurred -> a theory is tested through research and the theory is either accepted, rejected, or revised
what are inductive methods
a social phenomenon is observed -> data is collected on the possible reasons why it occurs and trends in the data are examined -> a theory is developed from this data to explain the social phenomenon
where is explanatory research used
- to scope out the magnitude or extent of a particular phenomenon, problem or behaviour
- to generate some initial ideas about that phenomenon
- to test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study regarding that phenomenon
what are the issues with the scientific method
- it is very linear (implies that science is once and done)
- not intuitive (makes the process intimidating)
- facts vs process
- focused on experiment
what is the cycle of scientific thinking
prediction -> testing/checking -> observations -> questions -> model (hypothesis) explanation -> answers
what is a case
a unit of observation to be compared e.g. countries, regions, parliaments, parties, individuals, etc..
what is the use of Small N Comparison
aims to provide more detailed understanding
what are the limitations of Small N comparison
- it is too complex (requires in-depth knowledge and familiarity with the cases)
- generalisations cannot be tested rigorously
what are the limitations of large N comparison
- quantifiability - certain things are difficult and/or controversial to quantify
- Correlation does not imply causation
