POL 2104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Deductive Reasoning, Comparative Politics, Statistical Hypothesis Testing
19 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Social scientists use theories, hypotheses ad evidence to build arguments about how the world operates. Theories are general explanations of how empirical phenomena operate across a range of cases. Hypotheses are potential explanations of cause and effect for specific cases, they are designed to be tested using evidence and are often derived from theories. Central practice of comparative politics, testing hypotheses about casual questions using empirical evidence. Involves measuring variables and seeing how they correlate across cases. Variables that correlate with one another may have a causal relationship. Theory: a general set of explanatory claims about some specifiable empirical range. Aims to explain more than just one or two cases or examples, it is typically backed by a considerable number of supporting facts as empirical evidence. There are two difference types of theory: normative theory, deals with questions of values and moral beliefs.
