POSC 816-010: ADVANCED SOCIAL RESEARCH FOR POLITICAL SCIENCE

Department of Political Science and International Relations

University of Delaware

Spring 2010

INSTRUCTOR: Julio F. Carrión

TIME: Tuesday 2:00-5:00pm
ROOM: Memorial 107
OFFICE HOURS: T-TH 12:00-1:30 p.m., or by appointment
OFFICE: 456 Smith Hall; Phone: x1929
E-MAIL: jcarrion@udel.edu

This seminar is designed to offer graduate students in political science an opportunity to learn the
skills necessary to write a research design and conduct advanced social research using primarily
qualitative data. The overarching goal is to make students self-conscious about their
methodological choices when conducting research. The seminar begins with a discussion of
issues related to the philosophy of the social sciences and then moves to the study of conceptual
issues associated with research design and the use of qualitative methods. A major objective of
the seminar is to write a research design that could be a first draft of the dissertation proposal.

More specially, the following topics will be addressed:

• Research design and causal inference in the social sciences using qualitative data

• Concept formation, case selection, and concept measurement

• Working with hypotheses and theories

• Methodological issues associated with case studies and small-N analysis (process
tracing; comparative method; historical explanation; structured, focused
comparisons)

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 • Mixed-methods research

• Mechanisms and models of explanation in the social sciences

REQUIRED TEXTS

1. Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: NY,
Cornell University Press, 1997.
2. Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation. Westview Press, 2001.
3. Gary King, Robert Keohane, Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton
University Press, 1994.
4. Alexander George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the
Social Sciences. MIT Press, 2005.
5. Henry Brady and David Collier (eds.), Rethinking Social Inquiry. Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, 2004.
6. Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts. Princeton University Press, 2006.
7. John Gerring, Case Study Research. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
8. John Gerring, Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
9. Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the Social
Sciences: A Pluralistic Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students will be required to write five short reaction papers and a paper. The reaction
papers must be e-mailed to the instructor one day before the scheduled class discussion (but no
later than Monday 6pm). The reaction paper should, as the name implies, offer your thoughts vis-
à-vis the week’s readings. The reaction paper is not to be a summary of the readings. Instead, it
should, at least, a) offer constructive criticism of the material (what you like and what you don’t,

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and why), b) identify issues or concepts that you do not fully understand and may need further
discussion in class. The maximum length for each reaction paper is two pages. The seminar
paper consists of a research design written to highland the concepts and techniques learned in the
seminar. Students will turn in a draft around mid semester and the final, revised version at the
end of the seminar. Details about the research design paper will be given later in the seminar.

Due date for draft of the research design paper: April 13, during class.

Due date for the revised paper: MAY 24 4pm.

Grading will be based on class participation, reaction papers, and term paper.

CLASS TOPICS

February 9. Introduction to the seminar. No readings

February 16. Varieties of social explanation: Ontological, Epistemological, and

Methodological Issues. Methodological Individualism. Causal Explanation.

Readings:

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 2, Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, “How many
approaches in the social sciences? An epistemological introduction”.

• Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation. Westview Press, 2001. Chapters 1-2; 9

• Daniel Little, “The Heterogeneous Social: New Thinking About the Foundations of
the Social Sciences” in C. Mantzavinos, Philosophy of the Social Sciences:
Philosophical Theory and Scientific Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2009.

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 • Jack Knight, “Comment: Causal Mechanisms and Generalizations”, in C.
Mantzavinos, Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Philosophical Theory and Scientific
Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 4, Adrienne Héritier, “Causal explanation”.

February 23: Varieties of social explanation: Mechanisms. Methodological Pluralism.

Readings:

• Charles Tilly, “Mechanisms in Political Processes,” Annual Review of Political

Science, 2001. (read especially pages 21-26)

• Jon Elster, Making Sense of Marx, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987,
Chapter 1 (“Explanation and Dialectics”. Pay particular attention to pages 3-29).

• Jon Elster, Explaining Social Behavior: Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, Chapters 1-3; conclusion.

• Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg, “Social Mechanisms: An Introductory Essay”

in Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg (editors), Social Mechanisms: An
Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998.

• Jon Elster, “A Plea for Mechanisms”, in Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg
(editors), Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998.

• Dietrich Rueschemeyer, “Analytic Tools for Social and Political Research”, in

Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Usable Theory: Analytic Tools for Social and Political
Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009.

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 • Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation. Westview Press, 2001. Chapters 10 and
11.

• Rudra Sil, “Problems Chasing Methods or Methods Chasing Problems: Research

Communities, Constrained Pluralism, and the Role of Eclecticism”, in Ian Shapiro,
Rogers Smith and Tarek Masoud (editors), Problems and Methods in the Study of
Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, “Comparing Approaches, Methodologies

and Methods. Some Concluding Remarks”, in Donatella Della Porta and Michael
Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences. A Pluralist
Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008

March 2: Inference and causality using qualitative data: The KKV view

Readings:

• Gary King, Robert Keohane, Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, chapters 1-4

• Henry Brady and David Collier (eds.), Rethinking Social Inquiry. Chapters 2, 11

March 9: Inference and causality using qualitative data: The answer to KKV

• Henry Brady and David Collier (eds.), Rethinking Social Inquiry. Chapters 1, 3, 4, 6,
12, 13

• James Mahoney, “After KKV: The New Methodology of Qualitative Research.”

World Politics 62, no.1 (January 2010), pp. 120-147.

• James Mahoney, “Towards a Unified Theory of Causality.” Comparative Political

Studies 41, no. 4-5 (April 2008), pp. 412-436.

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March 16. Writing research designs

Readings:

• C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination, New York, Oxford University Press,
1959 (read “Appendix: On Intellectual Craftsmanship”).

• Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca: NY,
Cornell University Press, 1997.
• John Gerring, Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001. Parts II and III.
• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 14, Philippe Schmitter, “The Design of Social and Political
Research”.

March 23: A Basic Introduction to Approaches in the Social Sciences: Choice, Agency,
Norms, Beliefs, History, Institutions, Structures

• Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation. Westview Press, 2001. Chapter 3

(“Rational Choice”), 4 (“Interpretation Theory”), 5 (“Functional and Structural
Explnation”), 8 (“Statistical Analysis”)

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Chapter 5 (“Constructivism: What It Is (Not) and How It Matters), 6 (“Culture
and Social Science”), 7 (“Historical Institutionalism”), 8 (“Game Theory”), 13
(“Quantitative Analysis”)

• Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation. 1984. Chapters 1 (“Intellectual Equipment”) and 2 (“Four
Pernicious Postulates”).

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March 30: Spring Break

April 6: Concept formation

Readings

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 10, Peter Mair, “Concepts and concept formation”.

• Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts. Princeton University Press, 2006. Chapters 1-
5, 9

• Giovanni Sartori, “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics.” American

Political Science Review, Vol. 64, No. 4, December 1970.

• John Gerring, Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2001. Part I.

• David Collier and James Mahon, “Conceptual “Stretching” Revisited: Adapting

Categories in Comparative Analysis.” American Political Science Review, Vol. 87,
No. 4, December 1993.

• Howard Becker, Tricks of the Trade. How to Think About Your Research While
You're Doing It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. Chapter 4 ("Concepts")

April 13. Concepts and case selection. Measurement error. Selection bias. Draft of Term
Paper Due

Readings

• Gary King, Robert Keohane, Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, chapters 5, 6

• Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts. Princeton University Press, 2006, chapters 6-
7-8

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 • Barbara Geddes, Paradigms and Sand Castles. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 2003, chapter 3

April 20. Case Studies

Readings

• John Gerring, Case Study Research. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

• Henry Brady and David Collier (eds.), Rethinking Social Inquiry. Chapters 7, 8, 9.

April 27. Structured, focused comparisons, process-tracing; historical explanation;

typological theory

Readings

• Alexander George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the
Social Sciences. (Chapters 1-4, 10-11)

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 12, Pascal Vennesson, “Case studies and process tracing: theories
and practices”

• Andrew Bennett, “Process Tracing: A Bayesian Perspective”, in Janet Box-

Steffensmeier, Henry Brady and David Collier (editors), The Oxford Handbook of
Political Methodology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

• David Collier, Jody LaPorte, and Jason Seawright, “Typologies: Forming Concepts
and Creating Categorical Variables”, in Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Henry Brady, and
David Collier (editors), The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

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 • James Mahoney, Kendra Koivu, and Erin Kimball, “The Logic of Historical
Explanation in the Social Sciences.” Comparative Political Studies 42, no. 1 (January
2009), pp. 114-146.

May 4. Comparative Method

Readings

• Alexander George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the
Social Sciences. (Chapter 8, 9)

• Charles Ragin, The Comparative Method. Berkeley: University of California Press,

1987. Chapter 1 ("The Distinctiveness of Comparative Social Science")

• Arend Lijphart, “Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method.” American

Political Science Review, Vol. 65, No. 3, September 1971.

• David Collier, “The Comparative Method.” In Ada W. Finifter (ed.), Political

Science: The State of the Discipline II. Washington, D.C.: American Political Science
Association, 1993.

• Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. Read Chapter 11, Donatella Della Porta, “Comparative analysis: case-oriented
versus variable-oriented research”

May 11. Mixed methods research

Readings

• James Fearon and David Laitin, "Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods",
in Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Henry Brady, and David Collier (editors), The Oxford
Handbook of Political Methodology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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 • Charles Teddlie and Abbas Tashakkori, Foundations of Mixed Methods Research,
Sage Publications, 2009, Chapters 1, 2, 7.

• Evan Lieberman, “Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative

Research.” American Political Science Review Vol. 99, No. 3, August 2005, pp. 435-
452.

• Alexander Bennett and Bear Braumoeller, Where the Model Frequently Meets the
Road: Combining Statistical, Formal, and Case Study Methods.

• Symposium. "Multi-Method Work, Dispatches from the Front Lines". Newsletter of

the APSA Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research. 2007, no. 1.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/moynihan/cqrm/Newsletter5.1.pdf

May 18. Wrapping Up

No Readings.

Paper is due MAY 24 at 4pm.

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