Machine generated contents note: 1.Political Research -- Issues in political research -- The research process -- pt. I Philosophy of social science: knowledge and knowing in social science research -- pt. II How to do research: an overview -- pt. III How to do research in practice -- Conclusions -- References -- pt. 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 -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Positivism -- Challenges to positivist approaches within the social sciences -- Scientific realism -- Interpretivism -- The analysis of ethnic conflict: a positivist (rational choice) and intepretivist (constructivist) approach -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 3.Objectivity and Values -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Normative and empirical theory in political research --

Contents note continued: Values, the researcher, and the research process -- Values and social practice -- 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 -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Individualism and holism -- Methodological individualism and holism -- Methodological individualism -- Methodological holism -- The politics of individualism and collectivism -- Coleman's bathtub -- Fallacies -- Agents and structures in the study of politics -- The agent-structure problem -- The dialectical relationship between structures and agents -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References --

Contents note continued: pt. 2 How to Do Research: An Overview -- 5.Asking Questions: How to Find and Formulate Research Questions -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Research questions: What are they? Where do they come from? -- Finding research questions -- How to formulate a research(able) question -- The research vase -- Types of questions: getting clear about what you want to know -- Unanswerable questions: fallacies in framing research questions -- The literature review -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 6.Answering Research Questions: Requirements, Components, and Construction -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Answers to research questions: general requirements -- What type of answer does your question require? -- Answers that contribute to the development of theory -- Where do hypotheses come from? -- Illustration: how an analysis of existing studies provides the basis for a hypothesis --

Contents note continued: Specifying your argument or answer: the nuts and bolts -- The components of a hypothesis -- Variables -- Relationships -- Conceptualization and operationalization -- Concepts and concept formation: what are you talking about? -- Concept formation -- Conceptualizing `power': the search for theoretical utility -- Conceptualizing `democracy': mediating between coherence and differentiation -- Operational definitions: how will you know it when you see it? -- Illustration: Lenin's explanation of World War I -- Answering normative questions -- Empirical and normative research -- Empirical and normative questions, answers, and methods -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 7.Research Design -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Basic principles of research design -- Types of research design -- Experimental designs -- Data-gathering strategies: how the data are collected -- Ethical research -- Conclusions -- Questions --

Contents note continued: Guide to Further Reading -- References -- pt. 3 How to Do Research in Practice -- 8.Experimental Research -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Basic principles of experimental design -- Laboratory experiments -- Field experiments -- Natural experiments -- Issues in experimental research -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 9.Comparative Research -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- The principles of comparison -- How we compare -- Case study -- Small-N comparison -- Most Similar Systems Design -- Most Different Systems Design -- Issues in small-N research -- Qualitative comparative analysis (intermediate N) -- Quantitative analysis (large-N comparison) -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 10.Surveys -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- The elements of a good survey -- What you ask: questionnaire design -- Validity: from concepts to survey questions --

Contents note continued: Measurement error: developing indicators -- Question wording comprehension -- Recall problems -- Deliberate misreporting -- Question order effects -- Question wording effects -- Balanced questions -- Response format -- Who you ask: sample design -- Defining the population: sampling frame -- Choosing the sample: random probability sampling -- Sampling error -- How you ask: interview mode -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 11.Interviewing and Focus Groups -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- I.Interviews -- Types of interviews -- Individual face-to-face interviewing -- Telephone interviews -- Online interviews -- Focus groups -- Forms of interview -- Structured interviews -- Unstructured interviews -- Semi-structured interviews -- Which type and form of interview to use? -- Designing a questionnaire or interview schedule for a structured interview -- Open-ended questions -- Partially categorized questions --

Contents note continued: Semi-structured or unstructured interviews -- Formulating questions -- Conducting a face-to-face interview -- Conducting online interviews -- Email interviews -- Interviewing via video link and web camera -- Elite interviews -- Expert interviews and surveys -- II.Focus groups -- Organizing and conducting a focus group session -- III.Analysing interview data -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- Software -- References -- 12.Ethnography and Participant Observation -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- The principles of ethnography and participant observation -- Theory and hypothesis testing -- Participant Observation methodology -- Choosing a research site -- Types of research site -- Selection of research site -- Access to research site -- The role of the ethnographer -- Doing participant observation -- Choosing informants -- Studying with informants -- Identity of the researcher -- Recording observations -- Fieldnotes --

Contents note continued: Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 13.Textual Analysis -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Discourse analysis -- Speech act theory, post-structuralism, and critical discourse analysis -- Speech act theory -- Post-structuralism -- Critical discourse analysis -- Analysis -- Content analysis -- Qualitative and quantitative content analysis -- Coding -- Manual and computer-assisted coding -- Analysis -- Validity and reliability -- Using documents, archival sources, and historical writing as data -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- Discourse analysis -- Content analysis -- References -- Endnotes -- 14.Quantitative Analysis: Description and Inference -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- Descriptive and inferential statistics -- Levels of measurement -- Summarizing the data -- Tables -- Graphs and figures -- Summarizing the distribution using statistics -- Measures of central tendency --

Contents note continued: Measures of dispersion -- Descriptive inference -- Population estimates -- Confidence intervals for proportions -- Confidence intervals for the difference between two proportions -- Confidence intervals for means -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 15.Patterns of Association: Bivariate Analysis -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- The principles of bivariate analysis -- Is there a relationship between the variables? -- How can we describe the relationship between the variables? -- How good is our explanation? -- Association and causality -- Data considerations for bivariate analysis -- Bivariate analysis for interval data -- Bivariate analysis using scatter plots: describing the relationship -- Is there a relationship? Significance testing with interval variables -- The test statistic -- The strength of the relationship: a question of fit -- Pearson's correlation -- Example 1 Democracy and Development --

Contents note continued: Bivariate analysis for categorical data: cross-tabulation -- Bivariate analysis using tables: describing the relationship -- Is there a relationship? Statistical significance for cross-tabs -- Example 2 Ethnic diversity and civil war -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References -- 16.A Guide to Multivariate Analysis -- Chapter Summary -- Introduction -- The principles of multivariate analysis: statistical control -- Specifying different types of relationship -- Confounding variables and spurious relationships -- Intervening variables and indirect causality -- Moderator variables and interaction effects -- Multivariate analysis using OLS regression -- Example 1 Democracy -- Measures of fit -- Interpreting the magnitude of the coefficients -- Presenting the results -- Multivariate analysis using logistic regression -- Example 2 Turnout -- Measures of fit -- Interpreting the magnitude of coefficients -- Interaction effects --

Contents note continued: Presenting and reporting data -- Conclusions -- Questions -- Guide to Further Reading -- References.