POL222H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Thick Description, Comparative Politics, Political Philosophy
Document Summary
Learn methods used in political science research. Test our theory with data from the real world. Examine a large number of cases to test our theory. Main commonality is that we study politics. Once we formulate our theory, we wish to explore whether our theory is correct. We examine actual cases in the real world to see if these cases coincide with our theory s expectation. Case studies: examine a single case or a few cases intensively (small-n) Detailed historical accounts, field research, qualitative interview, participant observation, thick description. Collect data on a large number of cases (large-n) Quantify relevant information (= an important concept measured in numbers) Know the systematic empirical regularity of political phenomena. To test theory and build generalizable knowledge about phenomena. Linear regression: most basic method used in quantitative social science research. Used to find a systematic relationship between social phenomena of interest. Can accommodate multiple factors of a social phenomenon of interest.
