Political Science 503 Fall 2004 Empirical Political Inquiry Dr. Paul Goren Office: Lattie Coor Hall 6768 Phone: 480-727-6241 Email: paul.goren@asu.edu Course meets Tuesday 1:40-4:30, Lattie Coor Hall 5501 Office Hours: M 9:00-11:00 and by appointment Course Overview: This course will teach you how to design empirical research projects. In terms of methods we focus on experiments, survey research, aggregate data analysis, content analysis, the comparative method, comparative historical analysis, cases studies, and participant observation techniques. Substantive examples are taken from the primary empirical subfields in political science: American politics, comparative politics, and international relations. Specific topics include interest groups, legislative politics, news media, public opinion and electoral behavior, campaigns and elections, social capital, public policy, democratization, deterrence, war, international political economy, social movements, revolution, and foreign policy. By the end of the term you will know how to (1) conduct a comprehensive literature review; (2) formulate interesting research questions whose answers can contribute to extant literatures; (3) define and measure abstract political concepts; (4) develop theoretical frameworks from which testable hypotheses can be derived; (5) define a population of cases and select a sample of analytically comparable units from it; (6) utilize quantitative and qualitative methodological tools to test the hypotheses; and (7) summarize, evaluate, and report on empirical political research. Requirements: Preparation and participation: Class attendance is mandatory. You are expected to read all materials and to make thoughtful contributions to class discussions each session. In class I will ask you the following questions about specific empirical studies. What is the research question? What contribution does this research make to the literature? How are the concepts defined and measured? Are the measures valid and reliable? What is the theoretical framework? To what extent is the framework plausible? Do the hypotheses follow logically from the theory? What is the population? How are cases selected? Is the selection method defensible? What specific quantitative/qualitative methods are employed? To what extent does the empirical evidence support the hypotheses? What additional research questions should be explored in future research on this topic? Be prepared to give a clear and concise answer to each of these questions in a minute or two. Literature review paper: You will write a 15 page paper that (1) summarizes the major findings in a particular area of research; (2) assesses the empirical support for the findings; (3) discusses the degree to which this research has led to genuine gains in knowledge; and (4) formulates three research questions that should be explored in future work. The paper is due at the start of class on October 12. Late papers will be penalized. Literature review oral presentation: You will present the literature review paper in class on October 12. The presentation should take about 15 minutes.
Research design proposal: You will develop a 25 page research design proposal that explicates a systematic plan to answer one or more important research questions (you will not collect and analyze actual data). Ideally, the question/s will come from the literature review paper described above. Make sure your proposal has a realistic chance of being completed in one year. The following topics must be included in your proposal: 1. the research question/s 2. literature review 3. the contribution your research will make 4. concept definitions 5. measurement 6. theoretical framework and hypotheses 7. population, sample, and case selection method 8. data collection source/s 9. the method/s to be employed 10. design strengths and weaknesses Starting the week of October 18, I will meet with students to review your proposal. During our meeting be prepared to discuss the 10 points listed above. Final papers are due in the political science office by noon on December 13. Late papers will be penalized. Research design oral presentation: You will present the research design proposal in class on December 7. The presentation should take about 15 minutes. Grading: Preparation and participation 20 % Literature review paper 20 % Literature review oral presentation 10 % Research design proposal 40 % Research design oral presentation 10 % Readings: The following texts are required for the course. They can be purchased at the ASU bookstore or from your favorite internet book retailer. Gerring, John. 2001. Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. New York: Cambridge University Press. King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba. 1994. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Manheim, Jarol B., Richard C. Rich, and Lars Willnat. 2001. Empirical Political Analysis: Research Methods in Political Science 5 th ed. New York: Longman. Nisbett, Richard E. and Dov Cohen. 1996. Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 2
Additional readings are listed in the course schedule below. All books are on reserve at the Hayden Library. Most of the articles are available electronically at www.jstor.org or http://catalog.lib.asu.edu/. readings are available in the graduate secretary s office. Course Schedule: Week 1: Course Introduction 08/24 Goodin, Robert E. and Hans-Dieter Klingemann. 1996. Political Science: The Discipline. In Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford,UK: Oxford University Press. Almond, Gabriel A. 1996. Political Science: The History of the Discipline. In Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, eds., A New Handbook of Political Science. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Week 2: Overview of Research Design and Political Methodology 08/31 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 1, 5 (pg. 79-85) King, Keohane, and Verba chapter 1 Gerring chapters 1, 2, 8, 9 Ragin, Charles C. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Chapters 3, 4. Putnam, Robert D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jackman, Robert W. and Ross A. Miller. 1996 A Renaissance of Political Culture? American Journal of Political Science 40:632-659. Tarrow, Sidney. 1996. Making Social Science Work across Space and Time: A Critical Reflection on Robert Putnam s Making Democracy Work. American Political Science Review 90:389-398. Week 3: Literature Review and Research Questions 09/07 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 3 Garand, James C. and Michael Giles. 2003. Journals in the Discipline: A Report on a New Survey of American Political Scientists. PS: Political Science and Politics 36:293-308. Goodson, Larry P., Bradford Dillman, and Anil Hira. 1999. Ranking the Presses: Political Scientists Evaluations of Publisher Quality. PS: Political Science and Politics 32:257-62. 3
Fowler, Linda L. and Ronald G. Shaiko. 1987. The Grass Roots Connection: Environmental Activists and Senate Roll Calls. American Journal of Political Science 31:484-510. Caldeira, Gregory A. and John R. Wright. 1988. Organized Interests and Agenda Setting in the U.S. Supreme Court. American Political Science Review 82:1109-27. West, Darrell M. 1988. Activists and Economic Policymaking in Congress. American Journal of Political Science 32:662-80. Grenzke, Janet M. 1989. PACs and the Congressional Supermarket: The Currency is Complex. American Journal of Political Science 33:1-24. Hall, Richard L. and Frank W. Wayman. 1990. Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review 84:797-820. Hojnacki, Marie and David C. Kimball. 1998. Organized Interests and the Decision of Whom to Lobby in Congress. American Political Science Review 92:775-90. Smith, Mark A. 1999. Public Opinion, Elections, and Representation within a Market Economy: Does the Structural Power of Business Undermine Popular Sovereignty? American Journal of Political Science 43:842-63. Week 4: Conceptualization and Measurement 09/14 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapters 2 (pg. 20-22), 4 Gerring chapters 3, 4 Adcock, Robert and David Collier. 2001. Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research. American Political Science Review 95:529-46. Collier, David and James E. Mahon. 1993. Conceptual Stretching Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis. American Political Science Review 87:845-55. Bollen, Kenneth A. 1980. Issues in the Comparative Measurement of Political Democracy. American Sociological Review 45:370-90. Alvarez, Michael, Jose Antonio Cheibub, Fernando Limongi, and Adam Przeworksi. 1996. Classifying Political Regimes. Studies in Comparative International Development 31:3-36. 4
Munck, Gerado L. and Jay Verkuilen. 2002. Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices. Comparative Political Studies 35:5-34. Bollen, Kenneth A. 1993. Liberal Democracy: Validity and Method Factors in Cross National Measures. American Journal of Political Science 37:1207-1230. Week 5: Theory, Causality, and Hypotheses 09/21 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 2 (pg. 14-16, 22-32) Gerring chapters 5-7 King, Keohane, and Verba chapters 2, 3 Gerring, John. 2004. Causation: A Unified Framework for the Social Sciences. Journal of Theoretical Politics (Forthcoming). Wickam-Crowley, Timothy. 1992. Guerillas and Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Week 6: Experiments 09/28 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 5 (pg. 85-99) Kinder, Donald R. and Thomas R. Palfrey. 1993. On Behalf of an Experimental Political Science. In Donald R. Kinder and Thomas Palfrey, eds., Experimental Foundations of Political Science. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Sears, David O. 1986. College Sophomores in the Laboratory: Influences of a Narrow Data Base on Social Psychology s View of Human Nature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51:515-30. Iyengar, Shanto and Donald R. Kinder. 1987. News That Matters: Television and American Opinion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Krosnick, Jon A. and Donald R. Kinder. 1990. Altering the Foundations of Support for the President through Priming. American Political Science Review 84:497-512. 5
Week 7: Survey Research 10/05 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapters 6, 7 Zaller, John and Stanley Feldman. 1992. A Simple Theory of the Survey Response: Answering Questions versus Revealing Preferences. American Journal of Political Science 36:579-616. Sniderman, Paul M. and Douglas B. Grob. 1996 Innovations in Experimental Designs in Attitude Surveys. Annual Review of Sociology 22:377-99. Gilens, Martin. 1999. Why American Hate Welfare. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Week 8: Literature Review Project 10/12 Oral presentation Paper due Week 9: Aggregate Data Analysis 10/19 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 10 Huth, Paul and Bruce Russett. 1984. What Makes Deterrence Work? Cases from 1900 to 1980. World Politics 36:496-526 Huth, Paul K. 1988. Extended Deterrence and the Prevention of War. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Chapters 1-4. Lebow, Richard Ned and Janice Gross Stein. 1990. Deterrence: The Elusive Dependent Variable. World Politics 42:336-69. Huth, Paul and Bruce Russett. 1990. Testing Deterrence Theory: Rigor Makes a Difference. World Politics 42:466-501. Week 10: Content Analysis 10/26 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 9 Woolley, John T. 2000. Using Media-Based Data in Studies of Politics. American Journal of Political Science 44:156-73. Althaus, Scott L., Jill A. Edy, and Patricia F. Phalen. 2001. Using Substitutes for Full-Text News Stories in Content Analysis: Which Text is Best? American Journal of Political Science 45:707-23 Kahn, Kim Fridkin and Patrick J. Kenney. 1999. The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Campaigns. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 6
Week 11: The Comparative Method 11/02 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapter 11 King, Keohane, and Verba chapters 4, 5 Ragin, Charles C. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Chapter 1. Mahoney, James. 2000. Strategies of Causal Inference in Small-N Analysis. Sociological Methods and Research 28:387-424. Lustick, Ian S. 1996. History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection Bias. American Political Science Review 90:605-18. Katzenstein, Peter J. 1985. Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Week 12: Comparative Historical Analysis 11/09 Mahoney, James and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. 2003. Comparative Historical Analysis. In James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pierson, Paul. 2003. Big, Slow-Moving, and... Invisible: Macrosocial Processes in the Study of Comparative Politics. In James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pierson, Paul. 2000. Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics. American Political Science Review 94:251-68. Skocpol. Theda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. New York: Cambridge University Press. Mahoney, James. 1999. Nominal, Ordinal, and Narrative Appraisal in Macrocausal Analysis. American Journal of Sociology 104:1154-96. Week 13: Case Studies 11/16 Gerring, John. 2004. What is a Case Study and What Is It Good for? American Political Science Review 98:341-54. 7
Eckstein [1975]. 1992. Case Studies and Theory in Political Science. In Harry Eckstein, ed., Regarding Politics: Essays on Political Theory, Stability, and Change. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. King, Keohane, and Verba chapter 6 McKeown, Timothy. 1999. Case Studies and the Statistical World View. International Organization 53:161-90. Rueschemeyer, Dietrich. 2003. Can One or a Few Cases Yield Theoretical Gains. In James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press. Allison, Graham T. and Phillip Zelikow. 1999. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2 nd ed. New York: Pearson. Week 14: Participant Observation 11/23 Manheim, Rich, and Willnat chapters 18, 19 Fenno, Richard F. 1978. Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. Boston: Little Brown. Fenno, Richard F. 1996. Senators on the Campaign Trail: The Politics of Representation. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Week 15: Multi-Method Approaches 11/30 Nisbett and Cohen book Week 16: Research Design Project 12/07 Oral presentation Paper due on 12/13 by noon 8