PSCI 2701 Quiz

Question 1

What are research methods

Answer 1

Systematic tools used to find, collect, analyze, and interpret information

Question 2

What is reflexivity

Answer 2

A term with many meanings but broadly speaking reflexivity refers to the researchers engaging in self awareness and self criticism as an intrinsic feature of the research process.

Question 3

what is positionality

Answer 3

the way in which a researcher reflects upon their own identity, background and experiences in relation to the research environment or the research processes their investigating.

Question 4

What are research ethics

Answer 4

the field of moral philosophy dealing with the standards by which behavior should be regulated within research.

Question 5

What is the connection between research methods and the political

Answer 5

Methods decisively shape the research and
often, the research outcomes

Question 6

How do research methods connect to policy

Answer 6

Research Method A → Research Outcome A
→ Policy A

Question 7

What are some ethical dilemma’s in research methods

Answer 7

 Methods, in particular, and research design, at large, reflect ethical
commitments.

 “hesitancy about tackling the ethical questions are themselves ethical
positions” (Frost 1998, p. 132).

 Hesitancy about recognizing the politicality of research methods and the
role they play in shaping research, and ultimately the world is an ethics
position.

 Choice of research methods is an ethics position and has ethics
implications.

 Research that employs interviews can draw fundamentally different
results than research that is based on surveys

 Research that employs elite interviews (as opposed to non-elite) can also
generate different research

Question 8

How do we know what we know in political science

Answer 8

(Primacy of) the scientific method/approach: “aims to
provide a method whereby observations of the political
world can be relatively independent of the observer” (p. 4)

 Is this (im)possible? “we accept the premise that most
political research falls far short of the goal of providing
similar observations and interpretations of political reality”
(p. 4)

 Independent of the method?

Question 9

The scientific approaches to politics

Answer 9

“The key feature of the scientific approach to politics is that it
requires the formulation of testable [falsifiable] hypotheses
(see p. 59–60) [about the causal relationship between
variables] and the marshalling of empirical data that can
confirm or fail to confirm the hypotheses”

Question 10

What is a testable hypothesis

Answer 10

 H0*: Education (x-axis; independent variable) and democracy (y-axis; dependent
variable) are independent

 H1: Democracy (y-axis; dependent variable) is dependent on education (x-axis;
independent variable)**

 “The relationship between these two types of variables is hypothesized to be a
causal sequence from the independent to the dependent variable and not vice
versa” (p. 16).

 How to test?

 Measurable variables. Education can be measured via UNESCO, World Bank Open
Data, etc. and Democracy can be measured via DI, etc

Question 11

Why do we need these hypothesis

Answer 11

What goals does political science research work towards?

 “The goal of all political analysis is to advance our knowledge and
understanding of the political world” (4).

 Why do we want to advance our knowledge of the political world?

 How to advance our knowledge of the political world?

 The answer to these two questions is significantly contingent on
the following.

 What are the two dominant forms of political analysis?
Normative and Empirical

Question 12

What is normative

Answer 12

Prescriptive
How society and political life should be.
Ideals- value judgments
Convictions and feelings- important but
difficult to measure and observe
empirically

Question 13

What is Empirical

Answer 13

Descriptive
Describe and to explain the political
world as it is rather than as it should be. Fact-based
Only takes into account what can be
independently, objectively and inter-
subjectively measured and observed
empirically

Question 14

What are issues with research in Poli sci

Answer 14

1. Control variable: In social sciences, researches cannot control for specific variables
   consistency.
2. Conceptual agreement: “A second difference between the natural and social
   sciences is the level of agreement within the scientific communities about the
   meaning and measurement of concepts. For example, physicists share a common
   understanding of such terms as mass, density, heat, and speed” .. whereas in “the
   social sciences are characterized by considerable disagreement over the definition
   and measurement of key terms. Disagreement persists—and perhaps always will—
   over the definition of terms such as democracy, effective representation, and social
   class” (p. 9)
3. Results determinacy: “A third difference between the two branches of science is
   the degree of determinacy of the results. In the natural sciences, the goal is to
   derive laws of behaviour. In the social sciences, the presence of human agency—
   free choice—means that outcomes are never completely determined. Instead of
   deriving laws of behaviour, .. the discipline tends to use probabil-istic statements”
   (p. 9)

Question 15

Despite the issues with research methods in poli sci

Answer 15

The scientific method is still an “attractive epistemology, or approach to
knowledge.” Why?
1. “the scientific method begins with the assumption that no single observer is
uniquely suited to perceive the real world in ways that are denied to all others”
2. “by highlighting the importance of the cause-and-effect structure of research
hypotheses, the scientific approach ensures that research remains targeted at
evaluating alternative causes of phenomena and rejecting those that are less
powerful.”
3. “explain and predict events or outcomes. The approach assumes that there is an
order and a structure to the real world… This assumption of patterned behaviour,
based on relationships of cause and effect, implies that we can gain knowledge of the
present and, through that knowledge, predict future behaviours or events.”
4. “draw lawlike generalizations about the real world” (p. 9-10)

Question 16

What is the goal of research

Answer 16

“From a positivist perspective, the goal of research is to
separate the researcher from the world being examined, to
gather measurable evidence with which to test hypotheses,
and to build theories on the basis of the observed empirical
tests. Furthermore, the expectation is that other
researchers, observing the world independently, can arrive
at the same conclusion.”

Question 17

Is the research goal and the political philosophy goal the same

Answer 17

The normative/empirical divide is often “reflected in the
differences between political philosophy and empirical
political science” (p. 16).

 Meaning – political philosophy studies normative questions
that are interpretive, and that question the possibility of a
world “as is”

 Whereas empirical political science commits to positivist
methods and epistemologies

 Can you use the scientific method to produce knowledge in
political philosophy?

Question 18

what are the steps in the scientific theory testing method

Answer 18

Identify the problem*
2. Hypothesize** the cause of the problem
3. Provide clear definitions of the concepts*
4. Operationalize** the concepts
5. Gather empirical data – qualitative vs. quantitative research methods
6. Test the hypothesis or hypotheses
7. Reflect back on theory
8. Publicize the results
9. Replicate the results

Question 19

What is qualitative

Answer 19

Qualitative
Interpretivsm
All reality was socially constructed
Interviews, focus groups
Depth over breadth
Open to unstructured interventions

Question 20

What is the problem in the research steps

Answer 20

The “problem,” or the outcome, in social scientific research is called the dependent event
and is measured by the dependent variable (must contain sufficient variation

Question 21

How would you hypothesize

Answer 21

Hypothesized causes are called independent concepts and are measured by independent
variables

Question 22

What are concepts in research steps

Answer 22

Concepts are abstractions used to describe the characteristics of a group or an
individual case according to a given criterion or quality.

Question 23

What are movements

Answer 23

movement from concepts (abstract; general) to variables (specific)

Question 24

What is triangulation

Answer 24

Triangulation (invoking multiple data sources and methods) and methodological pluralism

Question 25

What are some critiques of qualitative and quantitative

Answer 25

“Neither of the two traditions is beyond reproach when it comes to
producing trustworthy results. Preserving validity is the greatest challenge
for students employing quantitative methods. For example, coding
platforms and speeches has the potential to reduce complex, living texts
to a series of simpler, colder numbers. The opposite issue confronts
analysts in the qualitative tradition. By delving into the deeper meaning of
these documents, relying upon more “intuitive, soft, and relativistic” modes
of interpretation, they risk compromising the dependability,
transferability, and confirmability of their findings (Creswell 1998, 142;
see also Manheim et al. 2002, 315)” (41).

Question 26

What is the checklist after you do a study

Answer 26

 “Does my study seek to uncover broad generalizations about the political
world or am I seeking a narrower, more in-depth understanding of a par-
ticular phenomenon?
 Will my examination involve a large number of individuals, groups, or
countries or will I focus on a smaller number of cases?
 Do I have a pre-defined set of hypo-theses I wish to test or is my study more
exploratory in nature?” (27)
 Question of evidence: What type of data could we collect?
 “What would these various types of evidence look like? Would the data con-
sist of numbers and statistics? Or would the data take a non-numerical
form, as in the words of the respondents?” (28)
 “How would the analysis differ, depending on whether the data was collected
quantitatively or qualitatively?
 How would this choice affect the research process or the nature of its
findings?” (28)
 “How valid is my research design?
 Are we measuring what we believe we are measuring (measurement
validity)?
 Are our conclusions supported by the facts of our study?
 Have we ruled out alternat-ive explanations and spurious relationships?” (41)

Question 27

Some critiques of research methods in poli sci

Answer 27

Agency
 Uncertainty – political research is messy
 “not all aspects of reality can be empirically measured”
 “neutrality is impossible and that there is no value-free system of study”
 “Attempts to objectively describe and explain the status quo are seen by
some as a defence because there is often an implicit assumption that the
identified reality is natural and immune to change.”
 “Such criticisms vividly demonstrate the fact that political science (and
social science in general) lacks a single paradigm to which all can
appeal” (p. 24)
 Which paradigm/epistemology (empirical vs. normative) is the best?
None.

Question 28

What is our goal as researchers in Political Science

Answer 28

What is the purpose of political research?
 Advancement of science?
 Advancement of knowledge about the
political world
 Policy?
 Betterment of living conditions?
 Understand? Change? Political projects?
 Ethics? Normative/Empirical

Question 29

How do we understand the world in Political science

Answer 29

Political scientists ask a different set of questions than journalists and
historians do. They ask questions that extend beyond the anecdotal
circumstances of individual events, searching for linkages and
distinctions among various cases, across time, regions, or subject
areas. The goal for political scientists is to better understand events and
political phenomena beyond isolated occurrences, thereby
strengthening our ability to analyze political outcomes.
 In Chapter 1, we emphasized that the study of politics is messy – no two
events, conflicts, elections, treaties, or other political phenomena are
ever exactly the same, making generalization about these occurrences
challenging.
 Political scientists must use theory to make sense of this complexity,
and they must build on the research of others, identifying common
variables and anomalies among cases.” (Roselle et al 2019, p.33)

Question 30

What is a research design

Answer 30

a framework that has been created to seek answers to research questions

Question 31

How to create a research design

Answer 31

Identify the research problem
 Research approaches, literature and theories (who is also
writing/wrote about this problem? What were their findings? What
do I think about those findings?)
 Hypothesis/argument (what do I think my findings will
demonstrate? What am I trying to argue?)
 Goals of research
 Research methods
 Contribution of research

Question 32

how to identify a research problem

Answer 32

 How to choose a research topic?
 Interest
 Specialization
 Most over/under-researched topics
 Narrowed down
 How? Through developing an initial question-
based design
 Why? “an initial question is needed to guide
preliminary, foundation-building research”
(37)

Question 33

What to avoid when developing your research question

Answer 33

Descriptive questions, such as:
 “How do global markets operate?
 What is comparative advantage?
 Why do states use trade barriers?
 Which countries benefit the most from global
markets?” (37)
 Examine multiple (too many)* variables/factors
 What are all of the factors the cause different aid
reliance? (instead, what are the main factors
causing different aid reliance in Country X and Y?

Question 34

What to consider while developping your research question

Answer 34

 explore variations between similar cases or variations over time
for a single case (37)
 “strongest [or most significant] explanatory variable” (39) Bearing
in mind that:
(1) that change is complex and can be attributed to the interaction of
more than one variable, and
(2) that this might be a spurious relationship = while some
relationships appear plausible, they may indeed be false
 Start but do not end with a what question
 Instead, eventually your question should study a why or how?

Question 35

Research questions…

Answer 35

 “seek to unravel the puzzles associated with
not readily apparent cause-and-effect
relationships”
 Example: “What factors best explain
variations in food aid dependency between
these two countries of similar agricultural
potential and level of population?” (37

Question 36

How to define your variable

Answer 36

“Political scientists refer to the circumstances, topics,
policies, or other phenomena that they want to understand
as dependent variables.”
 It is usually the problem you want you study. So, if you are
studying why a policy failed, the failure of the policy is the
dependent variable (y-axis).
 “The factors believed to influence the project’s dependent
variable (i.e., to cause the dependent variable to undergo
some form of change) are referred to as independent
variables” (x-axis)

Question 37

What is the research goal of imperial research - Applied

Answer 37

Applied
“finding answers to specific problems,
with immediate practical usage- outcome-oriented
frequently used by governments,
businesses, marketing agencies, political
campaign organizers, hospitals, and
educational facilities to help fine-tune
their programs, products, and strategies
used to maximize effectiveness and
efficiency in the short term

Question 38

What is the research goal of imperial research - basic

Answer 38

Basic
aims to broaden our understanding of
political life.
examine theories about politics and
attempt to formulate explanations and
generalizations by empirically testing
hypotheses- which are statements of the
relationships between concepts or, more
specifically, are proposed explanations
for an observable phenomenon.
Used to understand the political through
empirical data” (50-53

Question 39

What is a theory

Answer 39

a set of interrelated ideas or concepts that are related to a particular topic or domain
“[t]heories are simply intellectual tools . . . theories are neither true nor false in any absolute sense, but only more or less useful” (Manheim and Rich 1981, p. 17)

Question 40

What does a theory require

Answer 40

Concepts

Relationships, or correlations, between concepts.

Statement of causality between the principal concepts: causal vs. correlational*-
Propositions – “proposition is then a statement of fact that follows from the accuracy of the hypothesis, such that, if the hypothesis is true, the following condition will prevail.”

Question 41

How do we develop theories - inductive

Answer 41

“from data to theory—we begin by
observing the world and develop
generalizations and conclusions from our
observations. We move from empirical
evidence to generalization: specific to
general
We might notice a pattern in society and
make the broad generalizations necessary
to develop a theory based on our
observation (inductive research).
Data collection may lead us to note new or
different patterns, from which we might
generalize into different theories
broader in scope

Question 42

How do we develop theories - deductive

Answer 42

from the general to the specific. It is a form
of hypothesis-testing
We might seek to test hypotheses derived
from the theory more directly by gathering
data from different sources (deductive
research).
We would develop hypo-theses based on
the new theories, then test them empirically
more directed and narrower in scope.” (57-
58)

Question 43

Theories for hypothesis testing

Answer 43

Can we effectively prove a hypothesis? No.
 Instead, we gain more confidence in it and are more inclined to see
it as “true.”
 Hypotheses cannot be ‘proven’
 Skepticism and avoiding notions of certainty
 This is why, before testing our ‘alternative hypothesis’ (H1, H2,
etc.)s as ‘true,’ we must first reject the null hypothesis (H0)
 “Once we reject the H0, we can conduct H1 testing and if, after
repeated testing, variables are correlated, we can say with
confidence that the hypotheses are supported. We do not state
that the hypotheses have been proven.” (58-60)

Question 44

Is correlation enough

Answer 44

 Causality
 “Interested in identifying cause-and-effect relationships exist and
that social scientists can, through research, discover the form of
these relationships
 Variable X causes variable Y when a “change in X (sooner or later)
produces change in Y” or (because some Xs don’t change) “Ys tend
to line up with fixed values of X” (Davis 1985, 9).
 Causal models help us visualize the relationships between
variables; when a large number of variables are involved in a
theory, a causal model can often simplify complex
relationships.”(60-62)

Question 45

Spurious relationships

Answer 45

“When a relationship between two variables can be accounted for by a
third variable, it is spurious. To test for a spurious relationship, we need
to examine whether the relationship between variable A and variable B
exists without the influence of variable C. If it does, it may be a causal
correlation; if controlling for C causes the relationship between A and B
to disappear, the relationship is spurious.
 Now, assume that a third variable, C, influences both A and B and causes
them to vary. Thus, the initial observed variation between A and B was
not causal but was a by-product of C’s effect on the other two variables.
After taking into account the presence of C, we would conclude that the
relationship between A and B is spurious
 To be confident that the relationship is causal, we need to be able to
eliminate as many alternative explanations of the relationship as
possible” (61-64)

Question 46

in which step of the research process do we check off the ethics box

Answer 46

 What is the goal of the research?
 Methodological rigor as an end?
 Not fundamentally problematic – “the tide turned towards
responsible metrics in research”
 Reproducing structures of violence? (Frost on
benevolentally/inexplicitly criminalizing work)
 Policy impact
 I in IR and human beings in the political

Question 47

info about research design

Answer 47

 Identify the research problem
 Research approaches, literature and theories (who is also
writing/wrote about this problem? What were their findings?
What do I think about those findings?)
 Hypothesis/argument (what do I think my findings will
demonstrate? What am I trying to argue?)
 Goals of research
 Research methods
 Contribution of research

Question 48

How do identify a research problem

Answer 48

 Dependent variable: Govt failure
 Independent variable: corruption, group grievances,
economic instability, civil society, etc.
 What is the relationship between govt failure (y axis)
and ….. (x axis)? → what causes govt failure?
 Which/how to choose the variables?
 Correlation
 Spurious? Causation?

Question 49

what are the variables

Answer 49

GF (Y-axis): the higher the number, the
higher the percentage/assessment of failure
 CPI (x-axis): the higher the number, the less
corrupt a country is (inverse is needed for a
positive correlation)
 All other variables (x-axis): the higher the
number, the higher the assessment

Question 50

Hypothesis….

Answer 50

Null/H0: GF and …. are independent of each
other
 Alternative/H1: GF is dependent on
corruption.
 Alternative/H2: GF is dependent on ….
 Alternative/H3: GF is dependent on ….
 Alternative/H4: GF is dependent on ….

Question 51

Theories for hypothesis testing …

Answer 51

Can we effectively prove a hypothesis? No.
 Instead, we gain more confidence in it and are more inclined to see
it as “true.”
 Hypotheses cannot be ‘proven’
 Skepticism and avoiding notions of certainty
 This is why, before testing our ‘alternative hypothesis’ (H1, H2,
etc.)s as ‘true,’ we must first reject the null hypothesis (H0)
 “Once we reject the H0, we can conduct H1 testing and if, after
repeated testing, variables are correlated, we can say with
confidence that the hypotheses are supported. We do not state
that the hypotheses have been proven.” (58-60)

Question 52

Correlations

Answer 52

 The closer to 1 or -1, the stronger the correlation, and the more
significant the independent variable.
 If it is closer to 1, it is a strong positive correlation
 If it is closer to -1, it is a strong negative correlation
So, for example, if your correlation is …., then ….
 0, no correlation
 - 0.5, weak negative correlation
 - 0.8, strong negative correlation; significant variable
 0.03, v weak positive but because of how weak (too far from 1)
it is, then no correlation
 0.8, v strong positive correlation; significant variable

Question 53

What is a literature review

Answer 53

a descriptive or analytical summary of material relating to some topic or area of study. the term also refers to the process of producing such a review.

Question 54

What is a scoping review

Answer 54

a review used to determine the scope or coverage of a body of literature on a given topic and provide a general overview on that topic.

Question 55

what is a systematic review

Answer 55

generally starts with a clearly defined question, this approach allows for a more general explanation of the literature

Question 56

What is the purpose for conducting a literature review

Answer 56

“First, it should concisely summarize the findings or claims that have emerged from
prior research efforts on a subject.
 Second, a literature review should reach a conclusion about how accurate and
complete that knowledge is; it should present your considered judgments about
what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s inconclusive, and what’s missing in the existing
literature”
 “It can give you a general overview of a body of research with which you are not
familiar.
 It can reveal what has already been done well, so that you do not waste time
“reinventing the wheel.”
 It can give you new ideas you can use in your own research.
 It can help you determine where there are problems or flaws in existing research.
 It can enable you to place your research in a larger context, so that you can show
what new conclusions might result from your research” (127).

Question 57

How to conduct a literature review

Answer 57

1. “read some existing review essays to see how other researchers have
   carried out this task” (128).
2. “What are you looking for in the literature? “Second, for each research
   study you read for your review, be sure you can succinctly summarize
   the study’s main claim. You should be able to describe in a sentence or
   two the central argument of each item you read.”
3. “Third, your written review should be selective. When you write the
   literature review, it is often not necessary to discuss every item you
   read. The write-up should discuss only the studies that have a direct
   bearing on the central focus of your review or your proposed research”
4. Fourth, “do not simply summarize,” … instead “a literature review
   should impose some intellectual order on the material” (129).
   While seeing how others have characterized a
   field of research is helpful, it is essential not to rely
   on others’ summaries of existing studies. Review
   articles in specialized encyclopedias or academic
   journals are a good place to get started, but they
   cannot substitute for your own reading.
5. Get into the habit of associating individual authors
   and major camps or points of view with each
   other” (129).

Question 58

What are categories for literature review

Answer 58

“think about grouping individual studies into larger “camps” or
“schools of thought.” One can do this in terms of different theories
they propose or defend, different methodological approaches they
take, or different policies they favor. Often, alternative views reflect
differences in the disciplines or backgrounds of the authors—
academics vs. government officials, psychologists vs. economists, etc.
This can stand as another basis for categorizing schools of thought”
 Thematic? Chronological?
 How to choose the categories?
 “you could search for encyclopedias or handbooks of social science, of
international relations, or of conflict and violence. If you cannot find a
relevant source for your area of interest, consult a reference librarian or
be creative in trying different combinations of keywords when searching
an online library catalogue” (129).

Question 59

What questions should a literature review ask/answer

Answer 59

“What each individual study has examined?
2. What each study has concluded from its examination?
3. Summarizing the collective results. To do this, sort the results
into three categories:
 Areas of consensus or near- consensus: What the existing studies
and reports have in common?
 Areas of disagreement or debate: What the studies disagree
about?
 Gaps: What they overlook or ignore?
4. What are the key findings that appear to be valid, and where is
more work needed?” (129)

Question 60

How do you evaluate… Assumptions

Answer 60

Are the key assumptions made by the most important studies a plausible
basis for research, or are they so problematic that they call into question the
rest of the analysis?

Question 61

How do you evaluate… Logic

Answer 61

Is the reasoning that is provided logically per- suasive, or does it contain
internal contradictions or make a giant leap at a key point in the analysis?

Question 62

How do you evaluate… evidence

Answer 62

Do the studies provide evidence to back up their main claims, or are
important claims made purely by assertion? Is the evidence valid—i.e., is it
factually accurate and on point? Has all the relevant evidence been
considered, or have some obviously relevant cases or bodies of data been
overlooked? Is the evidence that has been considered representative?

Question 63

How do we evaluate… methodology

Answer 63

Was the methodology used an appropriate choice for the question being
researched, and was it applied correctly?” (130).

Question 64

How do we evaluate … ethics

Answer 64

What are the authors approach to the ethics implications of their work?
How do they understand the world? Is there research detached from the
‘real’ world? What’s the purpose of their research?

Question 65

What is the checklist for literature reviews

Answer 65

What questions have the existing publications addressed? What issues have been
neglected?
2. What are the main conclusions of existing research? What do the studies actually
argue?
3. What are the points of convergence in the literature, and what are the main
disagreements? Where dis-agreements exist, what are the bases of the
disagreement?
4. What theories and or policies and or evidence has the literature looked at? What
potentially relevant information and alternative theories or policies have not been
examined?
5. How solid are the conclusions that have been reached? Are they based on sound
reasoning, careful assessment of the evidence, and a well-executed methodology?
Or are there good reasons to doubt some of the existing conclusions?
6. What is the overall quality of the literature? What have we learned to date? What
are the most important problems and gaps that require additional research?

Question 66

Where do you find literature

Answer 66

Libraries
 Google scholar (cited by)
 Handbooks
 Textbooks
 Journals and databases
 Bibliographies

Question 67

an initial question based on design

Answer 67

Starting question (Not research question): What is
the relationship between government failure and
corruption, etc?
 How does corruption and …. impact government in
case study1 and case study 2?
 How do you identify cases?