PO218 Study Guide - Final Guide: Test Statistic, Confidence Interval, Null Hypothesis
Document Summary
The goal of scientific method is explanation: a political phenomenon is explained by showing how it is related to something else. Empiricism: requires that every knowledge claim be based upon systematic observation. Concept: a word or symbol that represents some idea. Conceptualization: the mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise. Conceptualization involves a process of generalization and abstraction. Every concept must be given two definitions: nominal and operational. Comparison (ordinal level variables- you can compare which variable is greater or less or more powerful or not) Theories tie concepts together by stating relationships between them. A theory consists of a set of propositions (or empirical generalizations) that are logically related to one another. Inductive model of theory building- the observations are already in, information is already there- watched what"s happened seen what"s happened. Internal consistency (logical soundness) should be able to derive internal consistency within theory- theory cannot contradict itself.
