Lecture 1

Question 1

what is Political Science? (2 def)

Answer 1

1. the study of theory and practice of government and politics, focusing on the structure and dynamics of institutions, behaviors, and processes
2. systemic study of politics including institutions, behavior,and processes

Question 2

political science in simpler terms?

Answer 2

The study of theory on how something should be and how something is

Question 3

the process by which people negotiate and compete in the process of making and executing shared or collective decisions

Answer 3

politics

Question 4

politics in simple terms

Answer 4

the distribution of who gets what, when, a nd why

Question 5

1. capacity to bring about intended effects
2. the ability of actor A to get actor B to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do

Answer 5

Power

Question 6

more appealing to some formality

Answer 6

soft power

Question 7

Actors

Answer 7

the thing we are interested in studying

Question 8

government

Answer 8

how society organized itself and how it allocates authority in order to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits to society as a whole

Question 9

government in simple terms

Answer 9

how society decided to organize itself and how it makes decisions

Question 10

the function of a government

Answer 10

able to make decisions and enforce laws

Question 11

institutions & example

Answer 11

the set of rules and norms that govern behavior
ex: Lamar university, tennis

Question 12

norms

Answer 12

socialized accepted behavior

Question 13

Political science uses

Answer 13

the scientific method

Question 14

Steps of the scientific method 95)

Answer 14

1. observation
2. ask a question
3. form a hypothesis aka causation (testable explation)
4. Test
5. Ilterate (repeat the experiment)

Question 15

Iterate meaning

Answer 15

to repeat

Question 16

What 4 things does good science have?

Answer 16

1. falsifiable
2. parsimonious
3. replicable
4. level of accuracy is usually high t

Question 17

Good Science
Falsifiable

Answer 17

you can prove whatever you are conducting to be false

Question 18

if you cannot prove something to be false then it is a

Answer 18

conspiracy theory

Question 19

Good Science
Parsimonious

Answer 19

simple
keep your theory and hypothesis simple

Question 20

Good Science
Replicable

Answer 20

Transparent
other people can see what you did and can also do it themselves and have the same outcome

Question 21

What does N represent?

Answer 21

Number of Cases

Question 22

cases

Answer 22

an example of a phenomenon of interest

Question 23

population of cases

Answer 23

EVERY EXAMPLE of the phenomenon that exists

Question 24

Small Number of cases (N) includes

Answer 24

more in-depth details of the process

Question 25

Large number of cases (N) includes

Answer 25

more testing of more variable across a wider field

Question 26

What are the 5 fields of political science

Answer 26

theory
mass behavior
american politics
international relations
comparative politics

Question 27

theory is

Answer 27

the study of how things SHOULD be

Question 28

Mass behavior is the study

Answer 28

of a group behavior

Question 29

International Relations is the study of

Answer 29

ANYTHING GLOBAL

Question 30

Comparative Politics is similar to __(1)___ but uses a __(2)___

Answer 30

1. International relations
2. comparative method

Question 31

quanitative includes (2)

Answer 31

• stats
• large N studies

Question 32

Qualitative includes (5)

Answer 32

1. interviews
2. small N studies
3. primary spurces/ documents analysis
4. Historical Proccess tracing
5. BAsically anything else (no numbers)

Question 33

variable

Answer 33

a changeable feature, factor, quantity, or element

Question 34

Dependent Variable (2)

Answer 34

factor/ element we wish to explain
the outcome

Question 35

what letter represents the dependent variable

Answer 35

Y

Question 36

Independent variable (2)

Answer 36

factor/ element taht INFLUENCES the dependent variable
causes the outcome

Question 37

what letter represents the Independent variable

Answer 37

X