Politics 506
Qualitative
Methods: Research Design and Analysis
Department of
Politics, Princeton University
Fall Term 2003
|
Wednesdays 9-11:50am |
Evan S. Lieberman 239 Corwin Hall Office hours: Mondays 1:30pm-2:20pm; Wednesday 3:30pm-4:20pm E-mail: ESL@Princeton.edu Telephone: 258-6833 |
Overview:
The central goal of this graduate seminar is to critically examine a range of “qualitative” methods for designing and carrying out research and analysis in the study of politics. These methods are not intended to be a substitute for the use and understanding of “statistical” methods, but should complement other methods course offerings.
We will identify the types of theoretical and empirical questions that are typically associated with in-depth analysis of a small number of cases, and the problems of carrying out systematic research. Subsequently, we will consider the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of approaches and techniques including case selection, process tracing, structured comparison, periodization, analytic narrative, and the integration of qualitative and statistical methods in research design. The seminar will also include discussion of the mechanics of qualitative research, including field methods, in-depth interviewing, and archival research. While the readings tend to be drawn from the sub-field of comparative politics, we will discuss applications to a variety of sub-fields, particularly in response to specific student interests.
Prerequisites:
Although there are no formal pre-requisites for the course, some background in statistics would be helpful and/or some inclination of substantive research questions that you would like to consider.
Policy on auditors: No auditors will be allowed in this seminar. Sorry.
Books for purchase: (available at the Princeton University Store)
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Ragin, Charles C. Fuzzy-set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000
Gerring, John. Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Van Evera, Stephen. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Mahoney, James and Reuschemeyer, Dietrich. Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Laitin, David. Hegemony and Culture: Politics and Religious Change Among the Yoruba. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Collier Ruth Berins, and David Collier. Shaping the Political Arena. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Steinmo Sven. 1993. Taxation and Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Additional books you may want to purchase:
Martin, Lisa. 1992. Coercive Cooperation: Explaining Multilateral Economic Sanctions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Skocpol Theda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(For students without a background in basic regression analysis) You might look at Schroeder, Larry, David L. Sjoquist, and Paula E. Stephan. Understanding Regression Analysis: An Introductory Guide. Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, Sage University Paper #57. Sage Publications, and some introductory textbooks in statistics.
Course requirements:
1. Weekly attendance and active participation in seminar. This is important for the success of the seminar – please come prepared with thoughts, comments, and questions. “Shyness” is not a valid excuse!
2. Written assignment 1: Write up a week’s readings (you may omit the examples, however) – Due on the Monday before seminar. Approximately 10pp; distribute via email to classmates. You will sign up for your week during our first meeting.
3. Written assignments 2 and 3 (Do two of the following
10-15pp papers. Students wishing to write a research paper for this seminar in
lieu of these short papers should speak with me before the end of the third
week of classes.) These are due Tuesday January 13, 2004.
a) MEASURE SOMETHING: Specify a concept and develop a measurement instrument (For example, an interview guide or a plan for carrying out archival research.) You might take a concept that has been measured quantitatively and present your qualitative measurement strategy as an alternative. Use the instrument to measure one or two cases.
b) DESIGN A RESEARCH PROJECT: Identify a statistical study, for example from an article in the APSR, AJPS, World Politics – write a research design justifying a qualitative study; what were the limits of the statistical study; what would the qualitative study add?
c) TRACE A PROCESS: Write a narrative that links a cause to an effect, or that demonstrates that an hypothesized cause does not produce the hypothesized effect.
4. In-class presentation – during
the last 2-3 sessions. Prepare a 10-minute presentation either on a prospectus
you have written, or on one of the writing assignments. The goal is to get
practice presenting a qualitatively-oriented project… in a concise manner. You
should meet with me at least one week prior to your presentation.
Grading:
- Class participation: 20 percent of final grade.
- Written assignment: 70 percent of final grade.
- In-class presentation: 10 percent of final grade.
Blackboard:
We will use the university’s course
software – blackboard.com – accessible through Princeton’s home page as a forum
for communicating messages, distributing documents, posting papers, accessing
web-links.
(https://blackboard.princeton.edu/pucourse/POL506_F2003)
The readings are available on Electronic Course Reserves via
Blackboard.
Codes: [B] – Book available for purchase or library; [D] – Distributed via
blackboard or in class; [R] – electronic course reserve; no code means you are
on your own…
Van Evera, Stephen. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997. [B]
Further reading:
Landman T. 2002. Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics : An Introduction. London ; New York: Routledge.
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, Chapter 1 [B]
Collier and Brady: Chapters 1-4 [D]
Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., pp.5-27; 31-4.
Steinmo S. 1993. Taxation and Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press. (Skim 1-119.) [B]
Steinmo S, Tolbert CJ. 1998. Do Institutions Really Matter? Taxation in Industrialized Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 31: 165-87 [R]
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, 34-74. [B]
Gerring, John. Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp.35-88. [B]
Adcock, Robert, and David Collier. "Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research." American Political Science Review 95, no. 3 (2001): 529-47. [R]
Sartori, Giovanni. "Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics." The American Political Science Review 64, no. 4 (1970): 1033-53. [R]
David Collier and Steven Levitsky, "Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research," World Politics, Vol. 49, No. 3 (April 1997) pp. 430-451. [R]
Ragin, Charles C. Fuzzyset Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 64-87, 149-180. [B]
Lieberman, Evan (2001). Taxation Data as Indicators of State-Society Relations: Possibilities and Pitfalls in Cross-National Research. Studies in Comparative International Development, 36, 89-115. [R]
Examples:
Review Steinmo, especially chapters 1 and 2
Familiarize yourself with cross-national datasets:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/ratings/index.htm
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/govdata2002/index.html
Further reading:
Coppedge, Michael. "Thickening Thin Concepts and Theories." Comparative Politics 31, no. 4 (1999): 465-77. [R]
Collier, David, and Robert Adcock. "Democracy and Dichotomies: A Pragmatic Approach to Choices About Concepts." Annual Review of Political Science 2, no. 1 (1999): 537-66. [R]
Geertz, C. (1973). “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture,” In Geertz (Ed.), The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 3-30. [R]
David Collier, “Data, Field Work, and Extracting New Ideas at Close Range,” APSA –CP Newsletter Winter 1999: 1-6. [R]
Kvale, Steiner. 1996. InterViews. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Chapter 10. [R]
Judd, Charles M., Eliot R. Smith and Louise H. Kidder. 1991. Research Methods in Social Relations. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich., Chapter 11. [R]
Aberbach, Joel D.,
James D. Chesney and Bert A. Rockman. 1975. “Exploring Elite Political
Attitudes: Some Methodological Lessons.” Political
Methodology 2:1-27. [R]
Entire PS edition – December 2002 on Elite interviews [D]
Examples:
Laitin, D. (1986). Hegemony and Culture: Politics and
Religious Change Among the Yoruba. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[B]
Fenno, Richard F. Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. Boston: Little Brown, 1978, 249-293. [R]
Further reading:
Barrett, Christopher B., and Jeffrey W. Cason. Overseas Research : A Practical Guide. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997, pp.90-105. [R]
Francis, Elizabeth. "Qualitative Research: Collecting Life Histories." In Fieldwork in Developing Countries, edited by Stephen Devereux and John Hoddinott; New York ; London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992, pp.86-101. [R]
Luker, Kristin. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. 1984. Berkeley, UC Press, appendix 1. [R]
Patton, Michael Quinn. Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990, pp.199-276.
Grant-writing strategies:
http://www.ssrc.org/programs/publications_editors/publications/art_of_writing_proposals.page
Developed by Adam Przeworksi (Department of Political Science, New York University) and Frank Salomon (Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin) on behalf of the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC).
Cameron Thies, "A Pragmatic Guide to Qualitative Historical Analysis in the Study of International Relations," International Studies Perspectives 3(4) (November) 351-372 [R]
Lustick, Ian S. "History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection Bias." American Political Science Review 90, no. 3 (1996): 605-18. [R]
Goldthorpe, John H. On Sociology : Numbers, Narratives, and the Integration of Research and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.65-93. [R]
Judd, Charles M., Eliot R. Smith, and Louise H. Kidder. Research Methods in Social Relations. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991, pp.287-297. [R]
Hope Harrison, Inside the SED Archives: A Researcher's Diary, CWIHP bulletin [D]
Examples:
Collier, R. B., & Collier, D. (2002). Shaping the Political Arena. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [B]
Lieberman, E. (2001). National Political Community and the Politics of Income Taxation in Brazil and South Africa in the 20th Century. Politics and Society, 29, 515-555. [R]
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, chapter 3: pp.76-114. [B]
Gerring, John. Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp.90-154, 200-243. [B]
Ragin, Charles C. Fuzzy-set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000., pp.88-119. [B]
Almond, Gabriel A, and Stephen J. Genco. "Clouds, Clocks and the Study of Politics." World Politics 29 (1977): 489-522. [R]
Elster, Jon, “A Plea for Mechanisms,” in Hedström and Swedberg (eds.) Social Mechanisms. An Analytical Approach to Social Theory (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 45-73. [R]
[FALL BREAK]
Eckstein, Harry. "Case Study and Theory in Political Science." In Handbook of Political Science, edited by Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1975, pp.79-117. [R]
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, pp.208-230. [B]
McKeown, Timothy. "Case Studies and the Statistical Worldview." International Organization 53, no. 1 (1999): 161-90.– as re-published in Rethinking Social Inquiry, chapter 8. [D]
Gerring, John. “What is a Case Study and What is it Good For?” [D]
Bates, Robert H., Avner Greif, Margaret Levi, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, and Barry R. Weingast. Analytic Narratives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998, introduction. [R]
“Analytic Narratives by Bates, Greif, Levi, Rosenthal, and Weingast: A Review and Response,” American Political Science Review 94, no.3 (2000): 685-702. [R]
Bennett, Andrew and Alexander George, “Process Tracing in Case Study Research,” Paper presented at the MacArthur Foundation Workshop on Case Study Methods, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BCSIA), Harvard University, October 17-19, 1997. [available at: http://www.georgetown.edu/bennett/PROTCG.htm]
Examples:
Laitin, Hegemony and Culture. [B]
Morgan, Kimberly, “The Politics of Mothers’ Employment: France in Comparative Perspective,” World Politics, 55,2, January 2003: pp.259-289.
Geddes, Barbara. "How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics." Political Analysis 2 (1990): 131-50. [R]
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, chapters 4 and 5: pp.115-207. [B]
Collier, David, and James Mahoney. "Insights and Pitfalls." World Politics 49, no. 1 (1996): 56-92.
Lieberman, Evan. "Seeing Both the Forest and the Trees: Nested Analysis in Cross-National Research." Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA 2002. [D]
Janoski, Thomas, and Alexander M. Hicks. The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp.1-30. [R]
Examples:
Martin, Lisa. 1992. Coercive Cooperation: Explaining Multilateral Economic Sanctions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Coppedge, Michael. "Explaining Democratic Deterioration in Venezuela through Nested Induction." San Francisco, CA: Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 2001. [R]
Sambanis case studies of ethnic conflict. [D]
Collier, David. "The Comparative Method: Two Decades of Change." In Comparative Political Dynamics, edited by Dankwart A. Rustow and Kenneth Paul Erickson. New York: Harper Collins, 1991, pp.7-31. [R]
Lieberson, Stanley, “Small N’s and Big Conclusions: An Examination of the Reasoning in Comparative Studies Based on a Small Number of Cases,” in Charles Ragin and Howard Becker (eds.), What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 105-118. [R]
Skocpol, Theda, and Margaret Somers. "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry." Comparative Studies in Society and History 22, no. 2 (1980): 174-97. [R]
Mahoney, James and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.), Comparative-Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002, Chapter 1 (Mahoney and Rueschemeyer), 9 (Rueschemeyer), 10 (Mahoney), 11 (Hall)
Examples:
Collier, Ruth Berins, and David Collier. Shaping the Political Arena. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, especially pp.ix-39. [B]
Skocpol T. 1979. States and Social Revolutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Seminar X. Comparative Historical Analysis II – timing, sequencing and periodization; Presentations (December 3)
Mahoney, James and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (eds.), Comparative-Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002, Chapter 5 (Pierson), 8 (Katznelson), 12 (Skocpol) [B]
Pierson, Paul. "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics." American Political Science Review 94, no. 2 (2000): 251-67. [D]
Lieberman, Evan. "Causal Inference in Historical Institutional Analysis: A Specification of Periodization Strategies." Comparative Political Studies 34, no. 9 (2001): 1011-35. [R]
Jim Mahoney, "Strategies of Causal Inference in Small‑n Analysis," Sociological Methods and Research, 1999. [R]
Examples:
Steinmo S. 1993. Taxation and Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press. [B]
Ellen Immergut, “The Rules of the Game: The Logic of Health Policy-Making in France, Switzerland and Sweden,” in Steinmo, Sven, Kathleen Thelen, and Frank Longstreth, eds. Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995, 57-89. [R]
Further reading:
Aminzade, Ronald. "Historical Sociology and Time." Sociological Methods and Research 20, no. 4 (1992): 456-80. [R]
Ragin, Charles C. Fuzzy-set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Review entire book, but focus on Part II. [B]
Examples:
Janoski, Thomas, and Alexander M. Hicks. The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp.320-345. [R]
Blake, Charles H., “The Enactment of National Health Insurance: A Boolean Analysis of Twenty Advanced Industrial Democracies,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Volume 26, Number 4, August 2001.
Snyder, Richard. “Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method.” Studies in Comparative International Development, Spring 2001, Vol. 36, Issue 1, pp.93-110. [R]
Catch-up/TBD