Transcript Methodology in Political Science: Qualitative Research Methods

METHODOLOGY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE:
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
October 1, 2014
By Hung-jen Wang 王宏仁
TODAY’S OUTLINE
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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 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
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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
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WHAT IS A CASE STUDY AND WHAT IS NOT?
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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
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(1). THE EVIDENCE-GATHERING TECHNIQUES
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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).
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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.
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(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”
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(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.
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(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.
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(6). CROSS-LEVEL REASONING
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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).