POLS 1150- Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam ( 22 pages long!)

• School: Northeastern University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 1150
• Professor: Michael C.Tolley

Document Summary

The dispute among three different approaches in comparative politics. Assumptions about actors who act deliberately to maximize their advantage. Use of mathematical reasoning to elaborate explanations. Inference: descriptive inference: use observations from the world to learn about unsoberved facts. Begins at the level of individual and: causal inference: learn about causal culminates in questions about collective actions, choices and institutions effects from data observed. Go beyond the particular collected universal laws. Seek to understand the phemona being studied with a wide range of readings. Ability to generalize abstract categories and provide explanations that apply to more than the case at hand. Maximise the importance of reliability and minimize the value of generalist research expectations. Emphasis on the formal organisations of governments. Diverse patterns of reasoning: mathematical method, verbal arguments, organize empirical evidences. Some follow marx offer universal theories that include casual accounts observations. Should address the limitations so other researchers can compare their work.