POLS 242 Lecture 1: POLS 242 Notes

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Political Studies
• Course: POLS 242
• Professor: John Rapley

Document Summary

Final exam covers everything from the midterm onwards. When you write essay, combine theory and empirical case study. Evidence is based on how strong the arguments you present are. Not sure where to put this fact. Be objective when conducting research remain detached. Facts are things that are given, finger prints on the gun are facts facts do not speak for themselves, need to turn them into evidence, create arguments that link cause and effect. In social sciences there are usually lots of variables. The more variables you have the more complex the research is. In this chapter: asking why, research questions in comparative politics, concepts, liberty, democratization, understand the world out there, empirical evidence, data that is collected about the world, prove or disprove hypothesis, comparative method, trying to find the truth. Ask why questions or rather emphasis on why questions and answer with cause looking at cause and effect: history does not deal with these things.