lecture 1 Flashcards
The two main ways by which to distinguish one piece of research from another are:
- Research may be directed toward answering a particular problem, or it may be carried on largely for its own sake, to add to our general understanding of politics. This distinction, based on the uses for which research is designed, may be thought of as applied versus basic research.
- Research may also be intended primarily to discover new facts, or it may be intended to
provide new ways of looking at old facts. Thus, political research can be characterized
by the extent to which it seeks to provide new factual information (empirical versus
nonempirical).
Normative philosophy
Normative philosophy consists of
arguments about what should be in politics. Probably the oldest form of political research, it includes among its practitioners Plato, Marx, and others. It is applied research; that is, its goal is problem solving. This means that it is not intended so much to develop political theory as to use what political theory tells us about society and politics as a basis for making
political decisions. It is also nonempirical in that it does not consist primarily of investigating matters of fact. It typically takes certain political facts as given and
combines them with moral arguments to prescribe political action.
The four types of political research based on
different combinations of these two dimensions.
Draw picture
engineering research
Like normative philosophy, engineering research is geared to solving problems.
However, its stance is empirical; it is concerned with ascertaining the facts
needed to solve political problems. S om e examples would be measuring the effects
of various reapportionment methods, trying to design a diplomatic strategy to effect
disarmament procedures, and designing methods of riot control.
Basic (recreational)
this is research carried on for its own sake, to improve political theory.
Political scientists pursue this type of research for the twin pleasures of exercising
their minds and increasing their understanding of things. In a high sense of the word,
it is “recreation.”
applied research
It is applied research; that is, its goal is problem
solving. This means that it is not intended so much to develop political theory as to
use what political theory tells us about society and politics as a basis for making
political decisions.
Formal theory
Formal theory, largely a post-World War II phenomenon, is the most recently
introduced form of political research. Like normative philosophers, formal theorists
posit certain facts about politics; but in contrast to normative philosophers, they posit
facts as empirical conditions rather than as the foundation for moral arguments. And
they distinctively operate by deriving further implications of the posited conditions
by precise logical and mathematical operations. Their concern is to take the posited
facts, or assumptions, and derive theories from them. Their end goal is to develop
reasonably broad and general theories based on a small number of agreed-upon
assumptions.
a great deal of formal theory in political science has
based itself on the economists’ core assumption of rational choice: the assumption
that individuals choose their actions in order to maximize some valued object, and
minimize the cost expended in achieving it.
theory-oriented research
This type of research is concerned with
expanding our knowledge of what happens in politics and of why it happens as it
does. Like political engineering, it is empirical; it is concerned with discovering facts
about politics. But unlike engineering, which deals with facts only for their usefulness
in specific political problems, this research deals with them to develop new
political theories or to change or confirm old ones. Accordingly, the most important
activity in this research is the development of theories linking observed facts about
politics. In engineering, facts are sought out if they are needed to solve a problem;
here they are sought out if they will be useful in developing theories.
What is political science?
Science is a field of study that aims to develop reliable explanations of phenomena through repeatable experiments, observation and deduction. The ‘scientific method’, by which hypotheses are verified (proved true) by testing them against the available evidence, is therefore seen as a means of disclosing value-free and objective truth.
Science = „a field of study that aims to develop reliable explanations of phenomena through repeatable experiments, observation and
deduction” (Heywood, 2013, p.12)
„The scientific method, by which hypotheses are verified (…) by testing them against the available evidence, is therefore seen as a means of disclosing value-free and objective truth” (ibid.)
Ethical dilemmas connected with political research
- The challenge of seeking the objective truth
- Should political scientists be and remain disengaged from politics?
- Effects on society of what we discover
- Our treatment of the people we are studying
Our treatment of the people we are studying
a) Harm to subjects [including embarassment
and/or psychological stress, and/or imposition]
b) Issues of confidentiality
c) Misleading the subjects
We are responsible to treat the subjects of our study fairly and decently. Particular
problems arise in the following ways:
1. Harm to subjects. Harming the subjects of your study, either by doing harmful things to
them or by withholding good things from them, should generally be avoided. Is it
ethically right, for example, in evaluating the effects of a program to get people off the
welfare rolls and into jobs, to withhold the program from some deserving people while
administering it to others, in order to see how effective it is?
2. Embarrassment or psychological stress. You should avoid shaming people into participating
in your study, or submitting them to embarrassing situations.
3. Imposition. You are asking your subjects to help you. Don’t demand more of them than
is reasonable. Public officials may get a hundred questionnaires a year; keep yours
short. Dinnertime is a good time to reach people by phone, but it is also an annoying
time if you have 15 minutes’ worth of questions to ask.
4. Confidentiality. Generally, the subjects of your study will wish to have their privacy
protected. It is not enough just to withhold publishing their names. Relevant details you
include in your report might make it easy to identify the subject (a member of
Congress, female, from the South, the senior member of her committee). You should
take care to truly mask the subjects who have helped you.
5. Fooling or misleading the subjects. As an overall rule, you should make certain that
your subjects know exactly what they will be doing and what use you will make of
them. As you will see in Chapter 6, the results of your study might well be more valid
if the people you study are unaware that they are being studied. However, everyone has
the right not to be fooled and not to be used without his or her consent.
effects on society of what we discover.
Inspiring immoral political practices
Reinforcing preexisting stereotypes
For instance, if you study techniques
of political persuasion, it is possible that what you learn could be used by a political
charlatan to do bad things. A colleague once published a study of the effects of
electoral systems on representation, only to learn later that it was used by a military
junta in a Latin A mer ica n country to figure out how to produce a controllable
“democracy.”
Also , the results of a research can be demeaning or dehumanizing. Recent
results in psychology suggesting that a wide range of behaviors are genetically controlled
go against our prevailing disposition to think of humans as free agents in what
they do. Research on racial or ethnic groups is particularly sensitive, as we may fear
that innocent research results might reinforce preexisting stereotypes.
The challenge of seeking the objective truth
One response to such difficulties might be to take a “pure science” approach,
arguing that because it is so hard to judge the results of knowledge anyway, we
should let the chips fall where they may. We should simply seek truth and not worry
about its effects. As we will see throughout this book, however, the social scientist
rarely deals in unquestioned truths. We work under sufficient difficulties, especially
the fact that we usually cannot operate by experimentation (see Chapter 6), that our
results are to some extent a subjective interpretation of reality. We operate within
rules of evidence in interpreting reality, so we are constrained in what we can assert
and cannot simply pull findings out of a hat; but still our results involve individual
choices and judgment by us. We are not simply neutral agents of truth; we must take
personal responsibility for the results of our research, difficult though these ethical
questions may be.
Research strategies
Draw picture - Quantitative and qualitative research strategies
Studying politics → towards the concept of political science
Draw picture
