Table Of ContentOXPORD
Political Research
Methods and Practical Skills
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Sandra Halperin & Oliver Heath online
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Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills
Political Research
Methods and Practical Skills
Sandra Halperin and
Oliver Heath
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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ISBN 978-0-19 955841-4
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Contents
1 Political Research
PART 1 Philosophy of Social Science: Knowledge and Knowing
in Social Science Research
2 Forms of Knowledge: Laws, Explanation, and Interpretation
in the Study of the Social World
3 Objectivity and Values
4 Methodological Individualism and Holism
PART 2 How to Do Research: An Overview
5 Asking Questions: How to Find and Formulate Research Questions
6 Answering Research Questions: Requirements, Components,
and Construction
7 Research Design
PART 3 How to Do Research in Practice
8 Experimental Research
9 Comparative Research
10 Surveys
17 Interviewing and Focus Groups
12 Ethnography and Participant Observation
13 Textual Analysis
CONTENTS
14 Quantitative Analysis: Description and Inference 338
15 Patterns of Association: Bivariate Analysis 366
16 A Guide to Multivariate Analysis 391
Appendix 419
Glossary 42S
Index 433
DETAILED CONTENTS
Questions 127
Guide to Further Reading 127
References 128
6 Answering Research Questions: Requirements,
Components, and Construction 129
Chapter Summary 129
Introduction 129
Answers to research questions general requirements 132
What type of answer does your question require7 133
Answers that contribute to the development of theory 1 34
Where do hypotheses come from? 138
Illustration how an analysis of existing studies provides the basis for a hypothesis 139
Specifying your argument or answer: the nuts and bolts 144
The components of a hypothesis 144
Variables 144
Relationships 146
Conceptualization and operationalization 148
Concepts and concept formation what are you talking about? 148
Concept formation 149
Conceptualizing 'power': the search for theoretical utility 1 SO
Conceptualizing 'democracy' mediating between coherence and differentiation 1S2
Operational definitions how will you know it when you see it? 1 S3
Illustration: Lenin's explanation of World War I 154
Answering normative questions 1S6
Empirical and normative research 1S7
Empirical and normative questions, answers, and methods 158
Conclusions !60
Questions !60
Guide to Further Reading 160
References 161
7 Research Design I64
Chapter Summary 164
Introduction 164
Basic principles of research design 165
Types of research design 167
Experimental designs 167
Data-gathering strategies: how the data are collected 174
Ethical research 178
Conclusions 180
Questions 180
Guide to Further Reading 181
References 182
detailed contents
Values and social practice 6601
Thomas Kuhn and scientific revolutions ^
Paradigms and paradigm change
Kuhnian paradigms and political studies: the case of development theory
Paradigms and the study of development
Imre Lakatos and scientific research programmes
The role of values in research Kuhn and Lakatos compared
Conclusions
Questions
Guide to Further Reading
References
4 Methodological Individualism and Holism 78
Chapter Summary 78
Introduction 78
Individualism and holism 79
Methodological individualism and holism 80
Methodological individualism 80
Methodological holism 82
The politics of individualism and collectivism 86
Coleman's bathtub 88
Fallacies 90
Agents and structures in the study of politics 91
The agent-structure problem 92
The dialectical relationship between structures and agents 93
Conclusions 95
Questions 95
Guide to Further Reading 95
References %
PART 2 Howto Do Research: An Overview
5 Asking Questions: How to Find and Formulate Research Questions 101
Chapter Summary Iq-j
Introduction 1Q1
Research questions: What are they? Where do they come from? 104
Finding research questions 105
How to formulate a research(able) question -, 11
The research vase
Types of questions getting clear about what you want to know ] 1 5
Unanswerable questions fallacies in framing research questions 120
The literature review ^
Conclusions
126
