Introduction Flashcards
What are the two “cultures” or “traditions” of political research identified by Mahoney and Goertz (2006)?
Qualitative and quantitative research traditions.
According to Mahoney and Goertz (2006), do qualitative and quantitative research traditions differ based on types of data or sample size?
No, they differ based on their immediate goals and norms of research practice.
What is the ultimate goal of both qualitative and quantitative research?
To produce valid descriptive and causal inferences
What is the focus of qualitative research in terms of explanation?
To explain the causes of effects in a specific set of cases
What is the focus of quantitative research in terms of explanation?
To estimate the average effects of causes, considering direction, sign, and magnitude, across many individual cases.
How do qualitative and quantitative research approaches differ in their understanding of causation?
Qualitative research often focuses on necessary/sufficient causes and aims to discover causal mechanisms, while quantitative research emphasises correlational causation and counterfactual models.
What is equifinality?
The concept that different paths can lead to the same outcome, which is central to how qualitative scholars think about causation.
What is the scope of causal generalisation in qualitative research? Why?
- Qualitative research explains outcomes in a small set of cases, emphasizing contextualized explanations with narrower scope but potential applicability to similar situations.
Why?
Qualitative scholars value causal heterogeneity: different causal paths can lead to the same outcome, and these paths vary by context.
For instance: Theda Skocpol explained social revolutions in France, Russia, and China with one theory.
Later, Skocpol developed a different explanation for social revolutions in peripheral countries (e.g., Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Iran), reflecting contextual variations.
What is the scope of causal generalisation in quantitative research?
Quantitative research aims to explain changes in outcomes across large sets of cases to make statements about populations, preferring theoretically “thinner” theories with broader scope.
- less specificity of the conditions of IV -> DV but payoff is greater scope
How does case selection differ between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research employs purposeful selection based on the dependent variable, while quantitative research relies on random selection for a representative sample.
How is the weighting of observations approached in qualitative research?
Not all data is considered equal, and theories can be significantly affected by critical observations. Qualitative researchers often use diverse sources, including interviews, photos, speeches, and statistics.
Are qualitative and quantitative research approaches compatible?
While they require different skills and training, they can be compatible, contributing to the same discussions and offering different perspectives on theoretical and policy debates.
How is the weighting of observations approached in quantitative research?
All observations are weighted equally, with the focus on estimating average effects from dataset observations in a spreadsheet format.
What is the significance of substantively important cases in qualitative research?
Qualitative research prioritises explaining “big” cases that are theoretically important, as these cases can challenge or refine existing theories.
How do qualitative and quantitative traditions approach cases that do not fit their theories?
In qualitative research, non-fitting cases are opportunities to refine theories and specify scope conditions. In quantitative research, they are often considered outliers explained by idiosyncratic factors.
What are the key concerns in concept and measurement for qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research emphasises conceptual clarity and eliminating measurement error through context-sensitive concepts
Quantitative research focuses on indicators, measurement validity, and modelling/avoiding systematic errors.
Does qualitative research require large-N data?
No, qualitative research is its own approach and is not a “measure of last resort” when large-N data is unavailable.
