scholarly journals Capturing causation in political science: the perspective of research design

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Luigi Curini ◽  
Alessia Damonte
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Pluralist Approach

Abstract In the last decades, ‘research design’ has become a strategic topic across political science. An emerging discourse relies on it to encompass paradigmatic oppositions and cultivate a pluralist approach to causation. As an introduction to the special issue on the topic, we offer an outline of the roles that the discipline recognizes to design in its relation to models and contend that, in a time of fascination for predictors, political science pluralism allows for balancing interpretability and validity of findings at once.

Observing the Counterfactual? The Search for Political Experiments in Nature

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Robinson ◽  
John E. McNulty ◽  
Jonathan S. Krasno
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Natural Experiments ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Introductory Essay ◽  
Conference Presentations

A search of recent political science literature and conference presentations shows substantial fascination with the concept of the natural experiment. However, there seems to be a wide array of definitions and applications employed in research that purports to analyze natural experiments. In this introductory essay to the special issue, we attempt to define natural experiments and discuss related issues of research design. In addition, we briefly explore the basic methodological issues around the appropriate analysis of natural experiments and give an overview of different techniques. The overarching theme of this essay and of this issue is to encourage applied researchers to look for natural experiments in their own work and to think more systematically about research design.

Psychophysiology, cognition, and political differences

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Mansell ◽  
Allison Harell ◽  
Elisabeth Gidengil ◽  
Patrick A. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Future ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Political Differences ◽  
Science Framework

AbstractWe introduce the Politics and the Life Sciences special issue on Psychophysiology, Cognition, and Political Differences. This issue represents the second special issue funded by the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences that adheres to the Open Science Framework for registered reports (RR). Here pre-analysis plans (PAPs) are peer-reviewed and given in-principle acceptance (IPA) prior to data being collected and/or analyzed, and are published contingent upon the preregistration of the study being followed as proposed. Bound by a common theme of the importance of incorporating psychophysiological perspectives into the study of politics, broadly defined, the articles in this special issue feature a unique set of research questions and methodologies. In the following, we summarize the findings, discuss the innovations produced by this research, and highlight the importance of open science for the future of political science research.

Rethinking Comparison

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Qualitative Research Design

Qualitative comparative methods – and specifically controlled qualitative comparisons – are central to the study of politics. They are not the only kind of comparison, though, that can help us better understand political processes and outcomes. Yet there are few guides for how to conduct non-controlled comparative research. This volume brings together chapters from more than a dozen leading methods scholars from across the discipline of political science, including positivist and interpretivist scholars, qualitative methodologists, mixed-methods researchers, ethnographers, historians, and statisticians. Their work revolutionizes qualitative research design by diversifying the repertoire of comparative methods available to students of politics, offering readers clear suggestions for what kinds of comparisons might be possible, why they are useful, and how to execute them. By systematically thinking through how we engage in qualitative comparisons and the kinds of insights those comparisons produce, these collected essays create new possibilities to advance what we know about politics.

Introduction to the Special Issue on “Social Movements and Private Environmental Governance”

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Special Issue

This special issue presents five articles that explore the linkages between social movements and private environmental standards that are not promulgated by governments. They draw on disciplines ranging from economics to political science to sociology to law. This introduction places the articles in context and explains their origins and intent.

scholarly journals Revisiting the Role of Institutions in Transformative Contexts: Institutional Change and Conflicts

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Zikos
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Key Concepts

The study of conflicts over natural resources is neither governed by a coherent set of theories nor limited by strict disciplinary boundaries. Rather, it encompasses a multitude of conceptions grounded within a wide array of disciplines and epistemological assumptions concerning the links between institutional change and conflicts, often concluding in contradictory propositions. This article aims at providing conceptual guidance for the special issue, by reviewing institutional research with a particular focus on institutional change and associated conflicts and drawing some implications from transformative settings. More specifically, the paper explores certain propositions and concepts utilised by institutional economists to explain why conflicts persist despite institutional reforms explicitly or implicitly introduced to resolve them. The author revisits diverse cases from different regions to investigate key concepts related to institutional change and its implications on environmental conflicts associated to transformations, complementing this view from a political science perspective. The paper concludes by offering an overview of factors identified as instrumental in understanding the institutional change and conflict–cooperation continuum.

scholarly journals Generating Data

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Knott
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Political Ethnography ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
State Relations

This article argues that bottom–up, people-centered research which uses ethnographic and everyday approaches is crucial but underutilized in research on identity politics in Eastern Europe. In order to understand what concepts such as ethnicity and citizenship mean in the context of people’s everyday lives, it is vital to understand whether taken-for-granted political concepts are appropriate and the make-up of data such as census data. The article first introduces the methods of political ethnography and bottom–up interviews by discussing how they can be applied and their value within political science. The paper uses data gathered from interviews in Moldova and Crimea (when it was still a de jure and de facto part of Ukraine) to demonstrate the value of this approach. It shows how interview data can add significantly to the understanding of kin-state relations within political science by adding a richness of context and a bottom–up perspective that quantitative and elite-level interviews fail to provide. Lastly, the paper draws on experiences gained from research design to discuss how bottom–up research in political science can be conducted rigorously. The article argues that this approach can deepen the understanding of identity politics and kin-state relations or, more broadly, important post-communist questions such as democratization and Europeanization.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Video Methods in Organizational Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis LeBaron ◽  
Paula Jarzabkowski ◽  
Michael G. Pratt ◽  
Greg Fetzer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Tool

Video has become a methodological tool of choice for many researchers in social science, but video methods are relatively new to the field of organization studies. This article is an introduction to video methods. First, we situate video methods relative to other kinds of research, suggesting that video recordings and analyses can be used to replace or supplement other approaches, not only observational studies but also retrospective methods such as interviews and surveys. Second, we describe and discuss various features of video data in relation to ontological assumptions that researchers may bring to their research design. Video involves both opportunities and pitfalls for researchers, who ought to use video methods in ways that are consistent with their assumptions about the world and human activity. Third, we take a critical look at video methods by reporting progress that has been made while acknowledging gaps and work that remains to be done. Our critical considerations point repeatedly at articles in this special issue, which represent recent and important advances in video methods.

Shirking in the Contemporary Congress: A Reappraisal

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Carson ◽  
Michael H. Crespin ◽  
Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽  
Ryan J. Vander Wielen
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Electoral Connection ◽  
New Research ◽  
The U.S

This paper replicates the findings that appeared in the article “Severing the Electoral Connection: Shirking in the Contemporary Congress,” published in theAmerican Journal of Political Science(44:316–325), in which Lawrence Rothenberg and Mitchell Sanders incorporated a new research design and, contrary to all previous studies, found evidence of ideological shirking in the U.S. House of Representatives. We investigate the robustness of their results by reestimating their model with Congress-specific fixed effects and find that their results no longer hold.

Research Design and Analysis: Striving for Relevance and Efficiency

1977 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-219
Author(s):  
Leslie H. McFarling ◽  
Vernon S. Ellingstad
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Analytical Procedures ◽  
Human Factors Research ◽  
Research Efficiency

This article serves as an introduction to the special issue on alternative approaches to research design and analysis. It describes the current status of human factors research with regard to design and analytical procedures and stresses the use of alternate procedures in the interest of research efficiency. Advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches are discussed. Brief discussions of the collected articles are included.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document