Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
METHODOLOGY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS October 1, 2014 By Hung-jen Wang 王宏仁 TODAY’S OUTLINE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • I. What is qualitative research? [To continue last lecture] II. What is a case study? The problem of definition The problem of confusion Definitions Three possibilities A typology The N question What is a case study and what is not? Conclusions III. Doing case studies Evidence-gathering techniques The formulation of a hypothesis Degrees of falsifiability The particular and general Population Cross-level research I. WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH? QUALITATIVE RESEARCH GENRES Anthropology: Ethnomethodology, ethnoscience, and ethnography Sociology: Symbolic interactionism, and the Chicago School Philosophy: Concept analysis, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, life histories, narrative analysis, and clinical methodology The critical traditions: Postmodern, post-structuralist, postcolonial perspectives, critical discourse analysis, feminist research, critical race theory, cultural studies, critical and performance ethnography, and autoethnography. They all are derived from traditional and interdisciplinary scholarship As Denzin and Lincoln (2000) write, “Qualitative research crosscuts disciplines, fields, and subject matters. A complex, interconnected family of terms, concepts, and assumptions surround the term qualitative research” (p.2). CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND RESEARCHERS Qualitative research: Takes place in the natural world Uses multiple methods that are interactive and humanistic Focuses on context Is emergent rather than tightly prefigured Is fundamentally interpretive The qualitative researcher: Views social phenomena holistically Systematically reflects on who he/she is in the inquiry Is sensitive to personal biography and how it shapes the study Uses complex reasoning that is multifaceted and iterative TRADITIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE VS. TRADITIONAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH/A CRITICAL APPROACH Traditional social science: the neutrality, and “knowledge is objective” assumptions Traditional qualitative research: (a) knowledge is not objective truth but is produced intersubjectively; (b) the researcher learns from participants to understand the meaning of their lives; (c) society is reasonably structured A critical approach: (a) knowledge is subjective but the society is essentially conflictual and oppressive; (b) to criticize the exclusion of knowledges and truths from traditional knowledge production; (c) the assumptions behind research questions must be questioned and reframed SHARED FOUR CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS Research fundamentally involves issues of power; The research report is not transparent, but rather it is authored by a raced, gendered, classed, and politically oriented individual; Race, class, and gender etc. are crucial for understanding experience; Historically, traditional research has silenced members of oppressed and marginalized groups CRITICAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS Narrative analysis Critical ethnography Action research Participatory action research Feminist theories Cultural studies II. WHAT IS A CASE STUDY? THE PROBLEM OF DEFINITION 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) The idea of “case study” might mean: That its method is qualitative, small-N; That its method is holistic, thick ( a more or less comprehensive examination of a phenomenon); That it utilizes a particular type of evidence (eg. Ethnographic, process-tracing or field research); That its method of evidence gathering is naturalistic (a real-life context); That the topic is diffuse (case and context are difficult to distinguish); That it employs multiple sources of evidence That the research investigates the properties of a single observation Or, that the research investigates the properties of a single phenomenon, instance or example. THE PROBLEM OF CONFUSION The first 6 points above are inappropriate as general definitions of the topic: we cannot just substitute case study for qualitative, ethnographic, process-tracing, holistic, naturalistic, diffuse, or multiple sources That point 7 equates the case studies with the study of a single observation, the N=1 research design is incorrect. Point 8 centering on phenomenon, instance, or example is ambiguous. DEFINITIONS Case (1) connotes a spatially delimited phenomenon (a unit) observed at a single point in time or over some period of time; (2) it comprises the type of phenomenon that an inference attempts to explain; (3) each case may provide a single observation or multiple observations. Example 1: (1) in a study of explaining certain features of nation-states, cases are comprised of nation-states; (2) in a study of explaining the behavior of individuals, cases are comprised of individuals. Example 2: For political science: a typical case is the nation-state; however, other smaller political units should also include: regions, cities, villages, communities, social groups, families, political parties, or interest groups. To sump up, a case should have identifiable boundaries and comprises the primary object of an inference. Spatial vs. temporal Boundaries Spatial boundary: where a country begins and ends Temporal boundary: when a country begins and ends. When a temporal boundary is not clear, we have to “assume” it, particularly when cases consist of discrete events (such as crises, revolutions, legislative acts etc.) within a single unit. A case study can be understood as the intensive study of a single case where the purpose of that study is to shed light on a larger class of cases (a population). A case study research may incorporate several cases, that is, multiple case studies. A cross-case study: at the point where the emphasis of a study shifts from the individual case to a sample of cases A case study: one or a few cases; a cross-case study: many cases The unit(s) of a case under special focus is not perfectly representative of the population: for example, H2O molecule Few addition terms to be defined: An observation is the basic element of any empirical endeavor. • The number of observations in an analysis is referred to with the letter N. (here N can also be used to mean the number of cases depending on the context). • A single observation can be understood as containing several dimensions, each of which may be measured as a variable. • Where the proposition (≒hypothesis, inference and argument) is causal, these may be subdivided into dependent (Y) and independent (X) variables: the dependent variable=the outcome of an investigation; the independent variable=the explanatory (causal) factor. Few addition terms to be defined: A sample consists of whatever cases are subjected to formal analysis; they are the immediate subject of a study or case study. • In a case study, the sample is small consisting of the single case or handful of cases. • It is a matter of degree: the more case studies one has, the less intensively each one is studies, and the more confident one is in their representativeness, the more likely one is to describe them as a sample rather than as a series of case studies. • The case study research is usually (but not always) limited to 12 cases or less (even just one case). Studies of American exceptionalism: Features of the American experience…(1)…(2)…(3)… Other cases America Germany Case 2 Case 1 France U.K. Case 3 Case 4 Few addition terms to be defined: The sample of cases rests within a population of cases to which a given proposition refers. • The population of an inference is equivalent to the breadth or scope of a proposition. THREE POSSIBILITIES OF THE PRESENTATIONS OF OBSERVATIONS, VARIABLES AND CASES A TYPOLOGY OF RESEARCH DESIGN What is a case study and what is NOT: THE N QUESTION Traditionally, the case study has been identified with qualitative methods and cross-case analysis with quantitative methods. However, what distinguishes the case study method from all other methods is its reliance on evidence drawn from a single case and its attempt to illuminate features of a broader set of cases. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether the employed observations (N) are small or large: For example, the French Revolution 1) N=2 (Not 1) Type 2 2) No temporal variation Type 3 WHAT IS A CASE STUDY AND WHAT IS NOT? Campbell et al., The American Voter (1960), examines public opinion on a wide range of topics that are thought to influence electoral behavior through the instrument of a nationwide survey of the general public (over 1000 people). The People’s Choice (1948), by Lazarsfeld et al., is a longitudinal panel study focusing on 600 citizens living in Erie County, Ohio, who were polled at monthly intervals during the 1940 presidential campaign to determine what influences the campaign may have had on their choice of candidates. Middletown (1929/1956), by Lynd and Lynd, examines life in a midsized city, including such topics as earning a living, making a home, training the young, using leisure, taking part in religious practices etc. Political Ideology (1962), by Lane, attempts to uncover the sources of political values in a subsection of the American public, represented by 15 people who are interviewed by the author. CONCLUSION What is it that drives the distinction? It is NOT the type of subjects under study (all are people), NOT the number of observations (which range from small-N to large-N), or NOT the breadth of the population (all are the same country, the US). It is the number of cases under investigation, where only in the case studies does qualitative analysis comprise a significant portion of the research. III. DOING CASE STUDIES SIX ISSUES THAT AFFECT CASE STUDY WOK The evidence-gathering techniques The formulation of a hypothesis Degrees of falsifiability The particular and general Population Cross-level research (1). THE EVIDENCE-GATHERING TECHNIQUES Evidence could be found from an existing dataset, set of texts, or simply the investigator’s own original research. Evidence may be quantitative, qualitative, or a mixture of both. Evidence can be made from experiments, from ethnographic fieldwork, from unstructured interviews, or from highly structured surveys. All data requires interpretation: all techniques of evidence gathering are interpretive. (2). THE HYPOTHESIS All hypotheses involve at least one independent variable (X), and one dependent variable (Y). If a researcher is concerned to explain a puzzling outcome, but has no preconceptions about its causes, then the research will be described as Y-centered. If a researcher is concerned about the effects of a particular cause, then the research will be described as X-centered. If a researcher is concerned to investigate a particular causal relationship, the research will be described as X1/Y-centered. X- or Y-centered research is exploratory (its purpose is to generate new hypotheses); X1/Y-centered research is confirmatory/disconfirmatory (its purpose is to test an existing hypothesis). X1/Y-centered research will get a specific causal factor(s), a specific outcome, and some pattern of association between the two. In this situation, we say that X1/Y-centered analysis presumes a particular hypothesis—a proposition. Naturally, the researcher’s hypothesis may change in the course of his/her research. Usually, a hypothesis arises from an open-ended conversation between a researcher and his/her evidence. (3). DEGREES OF FALSIFIABILITY Degree of falsifiability is the ease with which a proposition could be proven false. Verifiable vs. Falsifiable For example: (1) “This swan is white” verifies “There are white swans”. (2) However, the first observed black swan refutes (falsifies) the claim “All swans are white” (4). THE PARTICULAR AND THE GENERAL The particularizing and generalizing distinction should be understood as a continuum, not a dichotomy. Case studies typically partake of both. For example: Graham Allison, Essence of Decision : Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1999). “Essence of Decision” suggests a much larger topic (referring to general government decision making) “Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis” suggests a narrow topic Economists, political scientists, and sociologists are usually more interested in generalizing than in particularizing, while anthropologists and historians are more interested in explaining particular contexts. (5) SPECIFYING A POPULATION Each inference must have a clear breadth, domain, scope, or “population”. Example 1: when we are talking about the study of some element of politics in the United States, this could imply the study pertaining only to American politics, to all contemporary polities, or in varying degrees to both. Example 2: Skocpol, Theda. States and Social Revolutions : a Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. (1979) A researcher’s arbitrary right: Scope conditions (population) may be arbitrarily large, as well as arbitrarily small. (6). CROSS-LEVEL REASONING The case study research is cross-level research: it operates at the level of the principal units of analysis (the cases), and also within selected cases (within-case evidence).