POLS 1155 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Inductive Reasoning, Comparative Politics, Deductive Reasoning
5 Mar 2019
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By comparing countries or subsets within them, scholars seek out conclusions and generalizations that could be valid in other cases. Variables are hard to control and can be interconnected, while actual cases may be few. Getting access to information may be difficult, and comparisons may be limited by regional knowledge and interests. What questions are asked may be affected by selection bias and endogeneity. All these concerns make it difficult to generate any kind of political science theory, which we can define as an integrated set of hypotheses, assumptions, and facts. At this point you may well have concluded that a science of politics is hopeless. But it is precisely these kinds of concerns that have driven political science, and comparative politics within it, toward a more scientific approach.
