POLB80H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dependent And Independent Variables, Thesis Statement
Document Summary
Major themes: war, terrorism, trade, environment. How to read journal articles: the research question: what is the author trying to answer, thesis statement. Causal explanation answering the research question: theoretical orientation. Rationalist or constructivist etc. being able to label what theoretical camp the author is in: the method, a critique based on competing theories. What is a puzzle? a debate has emerge among theorists and practitioners alike: a good research question must be falsified. What is a causal explanation: is the answer to a why" question which provides a theoretically coherent because" answer. Dependent variable: is the phenomenon that you are trying to explain, it"s the output of the causal explanation (e. g creation of trade agreements, outbreak of war, dependent variable should have variation. Independent variable: is the thing that you think explains the dependent variable, it"s the input into a causal explanation, the independent variable is also referred to as the explanatory variable.
