| 1 |
Introduction and course rationale Course overview and rationale Why qualitative research?
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Required readings  Shapiro, I. "Problems, Methods, and Theories in Political Science, or: What's Wrong with Political Science and What to Do About it." In Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics. Edited by I. Shapiro, R. M. Smith, and T. E. Masoud. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521539432.
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| 2 |
Philosophy of social science Philosophical commitments of social science Positivist vs. (and?) interpretivist approaches Behavioral assumptions in social science research
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Required readings Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996, chapters 2, 3, 9, and 10. ISBN: 9780226458083. Popper, K. "Normal Science and its Dangers." In Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1970. ISBN: 9780521096232. Lakatos, I. "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes." In Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1965. ISBN: 9780521096232. Burrell, G., and G. Morgan. Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1979, pp. 1-9 and 130-143. ISBN: 9781857421149. Morgan, G., and L. Smircich. "The Case for Qualitative Research." Academy of Management Review 5, no. 4 (1980): 491-500. Bates, R. "The International Coffee Organization: An International Institution." In Analytical Narratives. Edited by R. Bates, et al. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780691001296. Recommended readings Elster, J. "Rational Choice History." American Political Science Review 94, no. 3 (2000): 685-695. Sil, R. "Problems Chasing Methods or Methods Chasing Problems? Research Communities, Constrained Pluralism, and the Role of Eclecticism." In Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics. Edited by I. Shapiro, R. M. Smith, and T. E. Masoud. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521539432. Friedman, M. "The Methodology of Positive Economies." In Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Edited by M. Brodbeck. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1968. ASIN: B000OKUWJK.
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| 3 |
Causation, explanation, and mechanisms What is causal explanation? Can qualitative research establish causality? How can qualitative research reveal mechanisms?
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Required readings King, G., R. Keohane, and S. Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780691034713. Tilly, C. "Mechanisms in Political Processes." Annual Review of Political Science 4 (2001): 21-41. Chandra, K. "Mechanisms v/s Outcomes." Essay for Symposium on David Laitin's Work, Newsletter of APSA Section on Qualitative Methods, 2006. Petersen, R. Resistance and Rebellions: Lessons from Eastern Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006, chapters 1 and 6. ISBN: 9780521035156. Recommended readings Elster, J. "A Plea for Mechanisms." In Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Edited by Peter Hedstrom and Richard Swedberg. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780521596879. Fearon, J. "Counterfactuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political Science." World Politics 43, no. 2 (1991): 169-195.
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| 4 |
Research discovery and design Discovering a research question Designing qualitative research Triangulation
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Required readings Abbott, A. Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780393978148. Mills, C. W. "On Intellectual Craftmanship." In The Sociological Imagination. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780195133738. King, G., R. Keohane, and S. Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994, chapters 1 and 4. ISBN: 9780691034713. Locke, R. Remaking the Italian Economy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997, chapters 1 and 4. ISBN: 9780801484216. Recommended readings Brady, H., and D. Collier, eds. Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. ISBN: 9780742511262. Geddes, B. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780472068357.  George, A., and A. Bennett. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005, chapter 4. ISBN: 9780262572224.
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| 5 |
Case studies What is a case? Value of case study research. The problem of case selection Comparative case method
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Required readings Van Evera, S. "What Are Case Studies? How Should They Be Performed?" In Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780801484575. George, A., and A. Bennett. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780262572224. Geddes, B. "How the Cases you Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias and Related Issues." In Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780472068357. Lijphart, A. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method." American Political Science Review 65, no. 3 (1971): 682-93. Locke, R., and K. Thelen. "Apples and Oranges Revisited: Contextualized Comparisons and the Study of Comparative Labor Politics." Politics & Society 23, no. 3 (1995): 337-367. Recommended readings Ragin, C., and H. Becker, eds. What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521421881. Yin, R. K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. ISBN: 9780761925538. Gerring, J. "What Is a Case Study and What is it Good for?" American Political Science Review 98, no. 2 (2004): 341-354. Collier, D., and J. Mahoney. "Insight and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative Research." World Politics 49, no. 1 (1996): 56-91.
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| 6 |
Interviews and documentary evidence Interviews as social events Issues of language and power Using documentary evidence
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Required readings Weiner, M. "Political Interviewing." In Studying Politics Abroad. Edited by R. E. Ward. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1964. ASIN: B000HMHY6O. Ewick, P., and S. Silbey. "Narrating Social Structure: Stories of Resistance to Legal Authority." American Journal of Sociology 108, no. 6 (2003): 1328-1372. Scott, J. W. Gender and the Politics of History. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1999, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780231118576. Nobles, M. Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780804740593. Examples and recommended further readings Tendler, J. Good Government in the Tropics. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780801860928. Rubin, H., and I. Rubin. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. ISBN: 9780761920755. Leech, B. L. "Interview Methods in Political Science." American Political Science Association Symposium, 2002. Denzin, N. K. "The Sociological Interview." In The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. ISBN: 9780137743810.
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| 7 |
Participant observation What is participant observation? Thick description Under what conditions is this approach feasible?
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Required readings Hammersley, M., and P. Atkinson. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London, UK: Routledge, 2007, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780415396059. Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books, chapters 1 and 15. ISBN: 9780465097197. Scott, J. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780300036411. Recommended readings Becker, H. Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You're Doing It. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780226041247. Garfinkle, H. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780745600055. Sewell, W. H. "The Concept(s) of Culture." In Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture. Edited by V. Bonnell and L. Hunt. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1999. ISBN: 9780520216792. Wedeen, L. "Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science." American Political Science Review 96, no. 4 (2002): 713-738. Van Maanen, J. Tales of the Field. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780226849621. Ethnographies Becker, H. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York, NY: Free Press, 1963. ASIN: B0006AYFSW. Whyte, W. F. Street Corner Society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226895451. Scott, James C. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977. ISBN: 9780300021905.
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| 8 | Survey research |
Required readings Boyd, R. W., and H. H. Hyman. "Survey Research." In Handbook of Political Science. Vol. 7, Strategies of Inquiry. Edited by F. Greenstein and N. Polsby. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975. ISBN: 9780201026016. Freeman, R. B., and J. Rogers. What Workers Want. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006, chapters 2 and 3. ISBN: 9780801473258. Examples and suggested additional readings Frey, F. W. "Cross-Cultural Survey Research in Political Science." In The Methodology of Comparative Research. Edited by R. T. Holt and J. E. Turner. New York, NY: Free Press, 1970. ISBN: 9780029148501. Weisberg, H. F., J. Krosnick, and B. D. Bowen. An Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996. ISBN: 9780803974029. Almond, G., and S. Verba. The Civic Culture. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1989. ISBN: 9780803935587. Verba, S., N. Nie, and J. Kim. Participation and Political Equality: A Seven Nation Comparison. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780226852980. Fishkin, J. S. The Voice of the People. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780300072556. Ingelhart, R. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780691022963. Converse, P., and R. Pierce. Political Representation in France. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780674686601. Smith, B., and R. Turner. "The Quality of Survey Research in Authoritarian Regimes: Brazil and the Southern Cone of Latin America in the 1970s." In Statistical Abstract of Latin America. Edited by J. Wilkie. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA, 1984. ISBN: 9780879032425. Lewis, I. A., and William Schneider. "Is the Public Lying to the Pollsters?" Public Opinion (1982): 42-47. Verba, S. "The Uses of Survey Research in the Study of Comparative Politics: Issues and Strategies." In Comparative Survey Analysis. Edited by Stein Rokkan, et al. The Hague, Mouton, 1969. Scheuch, Erwin K. "The Cross-Cultural Use of Sample Surveys: Problems of Comparability." In Comparative Survey Analysis. Edited by Stein Rokkan, et al. The Hague, Mouton, 1969. Stokes, S. C. "Politics and Latin America's Urban Poor: Reflections from a Lima Shantytown." Latin American Research Review 26, no. 2 (1991): 75-101. Verba, S., K. Schlozman, and H. Brady. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780674942936.
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| 9 |
Doing fieldwork Gaining Access Maintaining field notes Ethics of fieldwork
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Required readings Rabinow, P. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007, chapters 4-5. ISBN: 9780520251779. Barrett, C., and J. W. Cason. Overseas Research: A Practical Guide. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997, chapters 5-6. ISBN: 9780801855146. Emerson, R., R. Fretz, and L. Shaw. "Processing Fieldnotes: Coding and Memoing." In Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780226206813. Read, B., L. M. MacLean, and M. Cammett. "Symposium: Field Research: How Rich? How Thick? How Participatory?" Qualitative Methods 4, no. 2 (2006): 9-18. Piore, M. "Qualitative Research: Does it Fit in Economics?" European Management Review 3 (2006): 17-23. Recommended readings Aberbach, J., et al. "Exploring Elite Political Attitudes: Some Methodological Lessons." Political Methodology 2 (1975): 1-27.
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| 10-12 | Research proposal presentations |
Required readings Przeworski, A., and F. Salomon. "On the Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions." 1988.
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