Empirical Methods in Political Science
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Preface
About the Authors
Textbook Information
1
Introduction
1.1
What is Political Science?
1.1.1
Subfields in Political Science
1.2
Questions in Political Science
1.3
What are Empirical Political Science Methods?
1.3.1
Types of Methods
1.3.2
Qualitative and Quantitative Political Science
1.4
Scientific Method
1.5
What Can Research Tell Us?
1.5.1
Support for hypotheses
1.5.2
Generalizability
1.6
Overview of the Textbook
2
Causal Inference and the Scientific Method
2.1
Introduction/Background
2.2
Setup: The Scientific Method
2.2.1
Exploration or Cheating?
2.3
The Fundamental Problem of Causal Inference
2.4
Conclusion
2.5
Application Questions
2.6
Key Terms
2.7
Answers to Check-in Questions
2.8
Answers to Application Questions
3
Theory
3.1
Introduction
3.2
What is a theory?
3.3
What is a
good
theory?
3.4
Literature Reviews and Theory
3.5
Theory-building vs Theory testing
3.6
Conclusion
3.7
Application Questions
3.8
Key Terms
3.9
Answers to Application Questions
4
Data
4.1
Introduction
4.2
Types of Variables
4.3
Types of Data
4.4
Samples and Sampling
4.5
Measurement
4.6
Measures of Central Tendency
4.7
Broader significance/use in political science
4.8
Conclusion
4.9
Application Questions
4.10
Key Terms
4.11
Answers to Application Questions
5
Hypothesis Testing
5.1
Introduction
5.2
Background
5.3
Samples and Sampling
5.3.1
Magic of the Central Limit Theorem
5.4
Estimates and Certainty
5.5
Steps of Hypothesis Testing
5.6
Types of Hypothesis testing
5.6.1
Single Mean Hypothesis Testing
5.6.2
Difference of Means Hypothesis Testing
5.6.3
Regression Coefficients Hypothesis Testing
5.6.4
Conclusions you can draw based on the type of test
5.7
Applications
5.8
“Is it weird?”
5.9
Broader significance/use in political science
5.10
Conclusion
5.11
Application Questions
5.12
Key Terms
5.13
Answers to Application Questions
6
Surveys
6.1
Introduction & Background
6.2
Brief History of Survey Research
6.3
Designing a Survey Research
6.3.1
Developing the Survey
6.3.2
Sampling
6.3.3
Simple Random Sampling (SRS)
6.3.4
Fielding the Survey
6.3.5
Analyzing the Results
6.4
Applications
6.5
Advantages of Method
6.6
Disadvantages of Method: Surveys, Easier Said than Done
6.7
Broader significance/use in political science
6.8
Conclusion
6.9
Application Questions
6.10
Key Terms
6.11
Answers to Application Questions
7
Experiments
7.1
Introduction
7.2
Background
7.3
Method: setup/overview
7.4
Method: detail (types of experiments)
7.4.1
Surveys vs Survey Experiments
7.4.2
Laboratory Experiments
7.5
Field Experiments
7.6
Natural Experiments
7.7
Advantages of Method
7.8
Disadvantages of Method
7.9
Broader significance/use in political science
7.10
Conclusion
7.11
Application Questions
7.12
Key Terms
7.13
Answers to Application Questions
8
Large N
8.1
Introduction
8.2
Method: setup/overview
8.2.1
Correlation
8.2.2
Regression
8.3
Method: detail
8.3.1
Finding the Line of Best Fit
8.3.2
Significance Tests
8.3.3
Multivariate Regression
8.3.4
Reading a Regression Table
8.4
Applications
8.4.1
Correlation
8.4.2
Regression
8.4.3
Logistic Regression
8.4.4
Experiments
8.4.5
Advantages of Method
8.4.6
Limitations of Method
8.5
Broader significance in political science
8.6
Application Questions
8.7
Key Terms
8.8
Answers to Application Questions
8.8.1
Check-in Questions
8.8.2
Application Questions
9
Small N
9.1
Introduction
9.2
Background
9.3
Case Selection
9.3.1
Most Similar
9.3.2
Most Different
9.3.3
Typical Case
9.3.4
Deviant Case
9.3.5
Other Selection Approaches
9.4
Method: setup/overview
9.5
Method: types
9.5.1
Interviews
9.5.2
Participant Observation
9.5.3
Focus Groups
9.5.4
Process Tracing
9.5.5
Ethnography
9.6
Applications
9.7
Advantages of Method
9.8
Disadvantages of Method
9.9
Broader significance/use in political science
9.10
Conclusion
9.11
Application Questions
9.12
Key Terms
9.13
Answers to Application Questions
10
Game Theory
10.1
Introduction
10.2
Background
10.3
Method: setup/overview
10.4
Method: detail
10.5
Applications
10.6
Advantages of Method
10.7
Disadvantages of Method
10.8
Broader significance/use in political science
10.9
Conclusion
10.10
Application Questions
10.11
Key Terms
10.12
Answers to Application Questions
11
Social networks
11.1
Introduction
11.2
What is a Social Network? What is Social Network Analysis?
11.2.1
Elements of a Network
11.2.2
Network Representations
11.3
Method: Set-up/Overview
11.3.1
Two Fundamental Network Attributes
11.4
Network & Node Measures and Special Graphs
11.4.1
Graph Characteristics
11.4.2
Node-specific Measures
11.4.3
Special Graphs
11.5
Applications of Social Network Analysis
11.5.1
Detecting Political Homophily on Twitter
11.5.2
Measuring the Effect of Centrality on Advocacy Output in a Network of Transnational Human Rights Organizations
11.6
Advantages of Social Network Analysis
11.7
Disadvantages of Social Network Analysis
11.8
Broader Significance of Social Network Analysis in Political Science
11.9
Conclusion
11.10
Application Questions
11.11
Key Terms
11.12
Answers to Application Questions
12
Machine Learning
12.1
Introduction
12.2
Background
12.2.1
A Brief Note on Notation
12.2.2
The Structure of Prediction Error
12.2.3
Bias-Variance Trade-offs
12.2.4
Parametric v. Non-parametric Methods
12.2.5
Supervised v. Unsupervised Learning
12.3
Method: setup/overview
12.3.1
What is Model Selection?
12.3.2
Why K-Fold Cross-Validation?
12.4
Method: detail
12.4.1
Model Class: Tree-based Methods
12.4.2
Model Class: Support Vector Machines
12.5
Applications
12.5.1
Example 1: U.S. Politics
12.5.2
Example 2: Comparative Politics
12.5.3
Example 3: Political Theory
12.5.4
Example 4: Comparative Politics
12.5.5
Example 5: Peace and Conflict
12.5.6
Example 6: International Relations
12.6
Advantages of Method
12.7
Disadvantages of Method
12.8
Broader significance/use in political science
12.9
Conclusion
12.10
Application Questions
12.11
Key Terms
12.12
Answers to Application Questions
13
Conclusions
References
Appendix
A
Mathematical Appendix
A.1
Calculating the Regression Coefficient
A.2
Significance Tests
A.3
Error Terms
A.4
Logged Variables
Published with bookdown
Northwestern Libraries
Empirical Methods in Political Science: An Introduction
References