PSC 3304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Imre Lakatos
17 Feb 2017
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Theory: a causal statement based on independent variable attempting to explain a dependent variable. Does not have to be founded on evidence; can be very hard to test. Has to have an explanation; must be more than an observation. To turn an observation into a theory, you must support/explain it. Deductive: you come up with a statement; you test it. Theory: states with more rural areas and thus more people who live in rural areas are more likely to support gun rights because the people will elect officials who support gun rights. Causal mechanism: a specific, credible mechanism that connects a theory; connecting reason. People in rural areas have less access to law enforcement than urban areas and thus would have more reason to support personal gun rights. For each theory there are multiple alternative stories. Question: why are far right politicians popular? (trump)
