Government 716
Andrew Bennett
Georgetown University (202) 687‑5800 BennettA@GUnet.Georgetown.edu
Spring 2001
Mondays 4:15-6:05 Maguire
102
Qualitative
Research Methods
Course Goals
The central goal of the seminar is to enable students to
create and critique methodologically sophisticated case study research designs
in the social sciences. To do so, the seminar will explore the techniques,
uses, strengths, and limitations of case study methods, while emphasizing the
relationships among these methods, alternative methods, and contemporary
debates in the philosophy of science. The research examples used to illustrate
methodological issues will be drawn from international relations, comparative
politics, and American politics. However, the methodological content of the
course is also applicable to the study of history, sociology, and economics.
The seminar will begin with a focus on the philosophy of
science, theory construction, theory testing, causality, and causal inference.
With this epistemological grounding, the seminar will then explore the core
issues in case study research design, including methods of structured and
focused comparisons of cases, typological theory, case selection, process
tracing, congruence testing, and the use of counterfactual analysis. Next, the
seminar will look at the epistemological assumptions, comparative strengths and
weaknesses, and proper domain of case study methods and alternative approaches,
particularly statistical methods and formal modeling. The fourth section of the
course will methodologically critique examples of case study research within
defined research programs. These examples will be selected in part based on the
interests and input of seminar participants. The final three weeks of the seminar
will be devoted to student presentations of case study research designs and
constructive critiques of these designs by seminar participants. Presumably,
many students will choose to present the research design for their thesis,
though students could also present a research design for a separate project or
edited volume.
Requirements
Mastery of assigned
readings and active participation in seminar discussions.
One short essay critiquing
the assigned readings for one week.
Each student will be required to write one 1500‑1800 word critique of the
assigned readings for a given week. This critique can focus on one or several
of the readings for the week, or on one or a few cross‑cutting themes. It
need not address all of the readings or discussion questions for a week.
Research Design Paper and
Presentation. Students will be
required to submit copies of a research design paper to all seminar
participants one week in advance of presenting this design in the seminar. Each
student will present their design in the seminar for a constructive critique of
a half‑hour or so, with a short introduction from the student and/or
advance reading questions suggesting issues or methodological dilemmas upon
which participants should focus.
Research designs should address all of the following
tasks (elaborated upon in the Bennett‑George paper, "Research Design
Tasks," in the assigned readings below): 1) specification of the research
problem and research objectives, in relation to the current stage of development
and research needs of the relevant research program, related literatures, and
alternative explanations; 2) specification of the independent and dependent
variables; 3) selection of a historical case or cases that are appropriate in
light of the first two tasks, and justification of why these cases were
selected and others were not; 4) consideration of how variance in the variables
can best be described for testing and/or refining existing theories; 5)
specification of the data requirements, including both process tracing data and
measurements of the independent and dependent variables for the main hypotheses
of interest, including alternative explanations.
There is no minimum length
limit, though most designs will probably be around 7,000‑9,000 words and should
be shorter than 11,000 words.
Follow‑up memo on
refinement of the research design.
While students are not expected to revise fully and resubmit their research
designs by the end of the course, they will be required to submit a memo of
about 1500 words on the modifications they think are necessary, and the
dilemmas that are still unresolved, in light of the critique they received in
the seminar.
Grading
30% mastery of the readings
as evident through participation in class discussions
20% short essay
50% written research design,
presentation of research design, and follow‑up memo
Books for Purchase
Gary King, Robert Keohane,
and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton University Press,
1994).
Charles Ragin, Fuzzy Set
Social Science (University of Chicago, 2000)
Daniel Little, Microfoundations,
Method, and Causation, (Transaction, 1998).
Steve Van Evera, Guide to
Methods for Students of Political Science (Cornell, 1997).
Course Outline
Jan. 22 Introduction
I) Philosophy of Science
and Epistemological Issues
Jan. 29 Evaluating Theories: Positivist and
Scientific Realist Approaches and Their Critics
Feb. 5 Causality, Explanation, and Causal Inference
II) Case Study Methods
Feb. 12 Concept Formation
Feb. 26 Designs for Single and Comparative Case
Studies and Alternative Research Goals
Mar. 12 Typological Theory and Case Selection
Mar. 19 Process Tracing, Congruence Testing, and
Counterfactual Analysis
III) Case Studies and
Alternative Methods: Comparative Advantages and Complementarities
Mar. 26 Statistics and Formal
Modeling: Contrasts and Complementarities with Case Studies
April 2 Critiques and Justifications of Case Study
Methods
IV) Critiquing Examples of
Case Study Research
April 9 Case Studies and the Interdemocratic Peace
Research Program
April 23 Case Studies and
Macro-Historical Comparison in Comparative Politics
V) Student Research Design
Presentations
April 30, May 3 (Monday only
classes are scheduled to meet on Thursday of Study Week; if necessary, we can
try to move this to a day convenient for everyone)
Readings
January 22 Introduction
Charles Ragin and David
Zaret, "Theory and Method in Comparative Research: Two Strategies,"
in Social Forces, Vol. 61, No. 3 (March 1983), pp. 731‑754.
Stephen Van Evera, Guide
to Methodology for Students of Political Science, pp. 89‑121.
Charles Ragin and Howard
Becker, "Introduction" to Ragin and Becker, What is a Case?
(Cambridge, 1995), pp. 1‑17.
Rudra Sil, “The Division of
Labor in Social Science Research: Unified Methodoloby or ‘Organic Solidarity,’”
Polity Vol. 32, no. 4 (Summer, 2000) pp. 499-531.
Alexander L. George and
Andrew Bennett, draft preface to Case Studies and Theory Development
(forthcoming, MIT Press).
I) Philosophy of Science
and Epistemological Issues
January 29 Evaluating
Theories: Positivist and Scientific Realist Approaches and Their Critics
Imre Lakatos,
"Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs,"
in Lakatos and Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge
(Cambridge University Press, 1970) pp. 91‑138, 173‑180.
Miriam and Colin Elman,
“Introduction,” and "Lessons from Lakatos," forthcoming in Colin and
Miriam Elman, Progress in International Relations Theory: Metrics and
Methods of Scientific Change, MIT Press 2001.
Andrew Bennett, “A Lakatosian
Reading of Lakatos: What Can we Salvage from the Hard Core?,”forthcoming in
Colin and Miriam Elman, Progress in International Relations Theory: Metrics
and Methods of Scientific Change, MIT Press 2001.
Keohane, King, and Verba
(hereafter KKV), Designing Social Inquiry pp. 3‑33, 99‑114.
Milton Friedman, “The
Methodology of Positive Economics,” in Daniel Hausman, ed., The Philosophy
of Economics, pp. 210-238.
Daniel Little, Microfoundations,
chapters 9, 10, and 12, pp. 173‑214, 237‑256.
Peter Hedstrom and Richard
Swedberg, “Social Mechanisms,’ ACTA Sociologica 1996 no. 3, pp. 281-308.
Paul Rabinow and William
Sullivan, Interpretive Social Science: A Second Look, introduction, pp.
1‑30, and chapter by Charles Taylor, "Interpretation and the
Sciences of Man," pp. 33‑81.
February 5: Causality, Explanation, and Causal Inference
Margaret Marini and Burton
Singer, "Causality in the Social Sciences," in Clifford Clogg, ed., Sociological
methodology 1988 (American Sociological Association) pp. 347‑409.
KKV, Designing Social
Inquiry, pp. 76‑91.
Robert Jervis, Systems
Effects (Princeton, 1997) pp. 29‑91, or read Jervis, “Complexity and
the Analysis of Political and Social Life,” Political Science Quarterly
Winter 1997/98, pp. 569-594.
Albert Yee, "The Effects
of Ideas on Policies," International Organization vol. 50, no. 1
(Winter, 1996) brief excerpt pp. 82‑85.
Jim Mahoney, "Strategies
of Causal Inference in Small‑n Analysis," Sociological Methods
and Research, 1999.
Paul Pierson, “Increasing
Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics,” American Political
Science Review, June 2000, pp.251-268.
Andrew Bennett, 1999 ISA
paper on causal inference in case studies.
Charles Ragin, Fuzzy Set
Social Science, introduction and chapters 1 and 4, pp. 3-19, 21-42, 88-119.
Alan Zuckerman,
“Reformulating Explanatory Standards and Advancing Theory in Comparative Politics,”
in Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman, eds., Comparative Politics:
Rationality, Culture, and Structure (Cambridge, 1997) pp. 277-305.
II) Case Study Methods
February 12: Concept
Formation
John Gerring, “What Makes a
Concept Good?,” Polity Spring 1999: 357-93.
Lee McIntyre, “Complexity and
Social Scientific Laws,” Synthese 97 (1993) pp. 209-27.
David Collier, “Data, Field
Work, and Extracting New Ideas at Close Range,” APSA -CP Newsletter
Winter 1999 pp. 1-6.
Robert Adcock and David
Collier, “Connecting Ideas with Facts: The Validity of Measurement,” APSA
Conference paper 2000.
Giovanni Sartori,
"Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics,"American Political
Science Review, December 1970.
David Collier and James
Mahon, "Conceptual Stretching Revisited: Adapting Categories in
Comparative Analysis," APSR December 1993, pp. 845‑855.
David Collier and Steven
Levitsky, "Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative
Research," World Politics, Vol. 49, No. 3 (April 1997) pp. 430‑451.
Robert Adcock and David
Collier, “Democracy and Dichotomies,” Annual Review of Political Science, Vol.
2, 1999, pp. 537-565.
February 26 Designs for
Single and Comparative Case Studies and Alternative Research Goals
David Collier, "The
Comparative Method," in Ada Finifter, ed., Political Science: the State
of the Discipline II (Washington, D.C.: American Political Science
Association, 1993), pp. 105‑119.
Andrew Bennett and Alexander
George, "Research Design Tasks," draft chapter for Case Studies
and Theory Development.
Van Evera, Guide to
Methodology, pp. 49‑76.
Theodore Meckstroth,
"'Most Different Systems' and 'Most Similar Systems:' A Study in the Logic
of Comparative Inquiry," Comparative Political Studies July 1975,
pp. 133‑177.
Sidney Tarrow, “Expanding
Paired Comparison: A Modest Proposal,” APSA-CP Newsletter Summer 1999:
9-12.
Brief Examples: Stephen Walt,
Revolution and War, pp. 12‑17; Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire,
pp. 60‑65; possible additional brief examples TBA.
March 12 Typological
Theory and Case Selection
Designing Social Inquiry pp. 124‑149.
David Collier and James
Mahoney, "Insights and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative
Research," World Politics vol. 49, no. 1 (October, 1996) pp. 56‑91.
Barbara Geddes, "How the
Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative
Politics," Political Analysis vol. 2 (1990).
Van Evera, Guide to
Methodology, pp. 77‑88.
Andrew Bennett and Alexander
George, "Draft Chapter on Typological Theory," draft manuscript.
Ragin, Fuzzy Set Social
Science, chapters 2, 3, 6, 7.
Daniel Little, Microfoundations,
chapter 11, pp. 215‑236.
Brief Examples: Bennett,
Lepgold, and Unger, Friends in Need, pp. 24‑28; Andrew Bennett, Condemned
to Repetition: The Rise, Fall, and Reprise of Soviet‑Russian Military
Interventionism 1973‑1996 pp. 12-29, 104-112.
March 19: Process Tracing,
Congruence Testing, and Counterfactual Analysis
Andrew Bennett and Alexander
George, "Case Study Methods in History and Political Science: Similar
Strokes for Different Foci," in Colin and Miriam Elman, eds., International
History and International Relations Theory: Respecting Differences and Crossing
Boundaries, forthcoming from MIT Press, 1999.
Ian Lustick, "History,
Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the
Problem of Selection Bias," APSR September 1996, pp. 605‑618.
Alexander George and Andrew
Bennett, “The Congruence Method,” draft chapter for Case Studies and Theory
Development.
David Waldner, State
Building and Late Development (Cornell, 1998) pp. 230‑240.
Philip Tetlock and Aaron
Belkin, eds., Counterfactual Thought
Experiments, chapters 1, 12.
Richard Ned Lebow, “That’s So
Different About a Counterfactual?,” World Politics July 1999: 550-85.
Adam Przeworski, contribution
to “The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics: A Symposium,” World Politics
October 1995 pp. 16-21.
Brief Examples: Scott Sagan, The
Limits of Safety, Yuen Foong Khong, Analogies at War, Timothy
McKeown, "Hegemonic Stability Theory and 19th Century Tariff
Levels in Europe, International Organization (Winter 1983), pp. TBD.
III) Case Studies and
Alternative Methods: Comparative Advantages and Complementarities
March 26: Statistics and Formal Modeling: Contrasts
and Complementarities with Case Studies
KKV, Designing Social
Inquiry, pp. 55‑63, 91‑95.
Henry Brady and David
Collier, Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards,
forthcoming, draft introduction, pp. 1-17.
Alexander George and Andrew
Bennett, draft chapter 1 from Case Studies and Theory Development.
Gerardo Munck, "Canons
of Research Design in Qualitative Analysis," Studies in Comparative
International Development, Fall 1998.
Charles Ragin, "Turning
the Tables: How Case‑Oriented Research Challenges Variable‑Oriented
Research, " Comparative Social Research Vol. 16, 1997, pp. 27‑42.
David Dessler, "Beyond
Correlations: Toward a Causal Theory of War," International Studies
Quarterly vol. 35 no. 3 (September, 1991), pp. 337‑355.
Yee, "Effects of Ideas
on Policies," pp. 68‑82.
Vaughn McKim and Stephen
Turner, eds., Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for
Causal Knowledge in the Social Sciences (University of Notre Dame, 1997) pp.
1‑19.
Robert Powell, In the
Shadow of Power, pp. 23-39.
Robert Bates, Avner Greif,
Margaret Levi, Jean‑Laurent Rosenthal, and Barry Weingast, Analytic
Narratives, pp. 3‑18; critique by Jon Elster and rejoinder by the
authors in American Political Science Review September 200 pp.
685-702. Also, reviews by David Dessler
and Andrew Bennett.
April 2: Critiques and
Justifications of Case Study Methods
KKV, Designing Social
Inquiry, pp. 46‑48, 118‑121, 208‑230.
David Collier, "Translating
Quantitative Methods for Qualitative Researchers: The Case of Selection
Bias;" Ronald Rogowski, "The Role of Theory and Anomaly in Social‑Scientific
Inference;" and Sidney Tarrow, "Bridging the Quantitative‑Qualitative
Divide in Political Science,"in American Political Science Review
vol. 89 no. 2 (June, 1995) pp. 4461‑474.
APSA‑CP: Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics,
Vo. 9, No. 1 (Winter 1998) articles by David Collier, Tim McKeown, Roger
Petersen and John Bowen, Charles Ragin, and John Stephens.
Olav Njolstad, "Learning
From History? Case Studies and the Limits to Theory‑Building," in
Olav Njolstad, ed., Arms Races: Technological and Political Dynamics
(Sage, 1990) pp. 220‑246.
Stanley Lieberson, "More
on the Uneasy Case for Using Mill‑Type Methods in Small‑N
Comparative Studies," Social Forces June 1994, pp. 1225‑1237.
John Goldthorpe,
"Current Issues in Comparative Macrosociology;" Dietrich Reuschemeyer
and John Stephens, "Comparing Historical Sequences‑A Powerful Tool
for Causal Analysis;" Jack Goldstone, "Methodological Issues in
Comparative Macrosociology;" and John Goldthorpe, "A Response to the
Commentaries," all in Comparative Social Research Vol 16 (1997) pp.
1‑26, 55‑72, 107‑120, and 121‑ 132, respectively.
Timothy McKeown, "Case
Studies and the Statistical World View," International Organization
Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter, 1999) pp. 161‑190.
Charles Ragin, Fuzzy Set
Social Science, Chapter 11, “Fuzzy Sets and the Dialogue Between Ideas and
Evidence.”
IV) Critiquing Examples of
Case Study Research
April 9: The
Interdemocratic Peace Research Program
James Lee Ray, Democracies
and International Conflict, pp. 11‑42, 86‑87.
Christopher Layne, "Kant
or Cant: The Myth of Democratic Peace," and John Owen, "How
Liberalism Produces
Democratic Peace," in International Security Fall 1994.
Miriam Elman, ed., Paths
to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer? (MIT Press, 1997). pp. 1‑57, 473‑506.
Andrew Bennett and Alexander
George, "Case Study Methods and Research on the Democratic Peace,"
1997 APSA paper.
April 23: Case Studies and
"Macro Comparison" in Comparative Politics
Ira Katznelson,
"Structure and Configuration in Comparative Politics," in Mark
Lichbach, and
Alan Zuckerman, eds., Comparative
Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure (Cambridge, 1997) pp. 81‑111.
James Mahoney and Dietrich
Rueschemeyer, “Comparative-Historical Analysis: An Introduction,” paper for a
conference and forthcoming book edited by the authors on comparative-historical
analysis.
David Collier,
"Comparative‑Historical Analysis: Where Do We Stand?" APSA‑CP
Newsletter, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer, 1998) pp. 1‑5.
James Mahoney, "Nominal,
Ordinal, and Narrative Appraisal in Macro‑Causal Analysis," American
Journal of Sociology, Vol. 104, No.3 (January 1999).
Thomas Ertman, Birth of
the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe,
pp. 1‑34, 317‑334.
Gregory Luebbert,
"Social Foundations of Political Order in Interwar Europe," World
Politics July 1987.
Possible additional extended
examples to be chosen from the following list, with input from students:
Ruth Berins Collier and David
Collier, Shaping the Political Arena
Brian Downing, The
Military Revolution and Political Change
Peter Evans, Embedded
Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation
Jack Goldstone, Revolution
and Rebellion in the Early Modern World
Jeff Goodwin, States and
Revolutionary Movements
Peter Hall, Governing the
Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France
Gregory Leubbert, Liberalism,
Fascism, or Social Democracy (related to his article above)
Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems
of Democratic Transition and Consolidation
Ian Lustick, Unsettled
States, Disupted Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the
West Bank‑Gaza
Ann Shola Orloff, The
Politics of Pensions: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, Canada, and the United
States
Paul Pierson, Dismantling
the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment
Robert Putnam, Making
Democracy Work
Dietrich Reuschemeyer and
Evelyn and John Stephens, Capitalist Development and Democracy
Theda Skocpol, States and
Social Revolutions
Hendrik Spruyt, The
Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change
Charles Tilly, The
Formation of National States in Western Europe
David Waldner, State
Building and Late Development
Timothy Wickham‑Crowley,
Geurillas and Revolution in Latin America
Additional Suggested Readings
Case Studies in American
Politics
Case studies on the
Presidency, Judiciary, Congress, Media, or other topics to be determined with
student input (some possibilities include Richard Neustadt, Presidential
Power, Burke and Greenstein, How Presidents Test Reality, Larry
Sabato, Media Feeding Frenzies, and Stephen Skowronek, The Politics
Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush).
I) Philosophy of Science
and Epistemological Issues:
Paul Humphreys, The
Chances of Explanation: Causal Explanation in the Social, Medical, and Physical
Sciences
Gabrial Almond and Steve
Genco, “Clouds, Clocks and the Study of Politics,” World Politics July
1977, pp. 489-522.
James Fearon,
"Counterfactuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political Science," World
Politics Vol. 43, No. 2 (January, 1991) pp. 169‑195.
David Dessler, "Talking
Across Disciplines in the Study of Peace and Security: Epistemology and
Pragmatics as Sources of Division in the Social Sciences," working paper,
Center for International Security and Arms Control, Stanford University, June
1996.
Emmanuel Adler, "Seizing
the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics," European Journal of International Relations,
September 1997.
Timothy McKeown, “The
Limitations of ‘Structural’ Theories of Commercial Policy,” International
Organization Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter, 1986) pp. 43-64. A critique of Milton Friedman on the “as if”
assumption.
Richard Berk,
""Causal inference for sociological data," in Handbook of
Sociology edited by Neil Smelser (Sage, 1988).
Richard Boyd, Philip Gasper,
and J. D. Trout, eds., The Philosophy of Science (MIT, 1991)
Thomas Cook and Donald
Campbell, Quasi‑Experimentation (Rand McNally) pp. 14‑36.
David Dessler,
"Empirical Research as Puzzle Solving," working draft.
David Dessler, "What's
at Stake in the Agent‑Structure Debate," in Kratochwil.
Paul Diesing, How Does
Social Science Work? (Univ. Of Pittsburgh Press, 1991)
Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts
for the Social Sciences
Clifford Geertz, "Thick
Description" and "Notes on a Balinese Cockfight"
John Gunnell, "Realizing
Theory: The Philosophy of Science Revisited," Journal of Politics
Vol. 57 no. 4 (November, 1995) pp. 923‑940.
Hawthorn, Plausible Worlds
Van Evera, Guide to
Methods, pp. 7-48.
Carl Hempel, "The Function
of General Laws in History," in his Aspects of Scientific Explanation
Mark Hoffmann, "Critical
theory and the Inter‑Paradigm Debate," Millenium Vol. 16, No.
2 (1987) pp. 231‑250.
Philip Kitcher, The
Advancement of Science: Science Without Legend, Objectivity Without Illusions
(Oxford, 1993)
Robert Klee, Introduction
to the Philosophy of Science (Oxford, 1997)
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure
of Scientific Revolutions
Larry Laudan, Beyond
Positivism and Relativism; Progress and its Problems
Daniel Little, Varieties
of Social Explanation (Westview, 1991) pp. 13‑38, 222‑238.
Richard Miller, Fact and
Method, 1987
Karl Popper, The Logic of
Scientific Discovery
Clayton Roberts, The Logic
of Historical Explanation
Wesley Salmon, Four
Decades of Scientific Explanation, 1989
Wesley Salmon, Causality
and Explanation, 1998
Andrew Sayer, Method in
Social Science: A realist approach (Routledge, 1992) pp. 1‑11, 103‑117,
121‑136, 204‑231.
Michael Sobel, "Causal
Inference in the Social and Behavior Sciences," in Gerhard Arminger,
Clifford Clogg, and Michael Sobel, eds., Handbook of Statistical Modeling
for the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Plenum Press, 1995) pp.
Arthur Stinchcombe, Constructing
Social Theories
Alexander Wendt,
"Anarchy Is What States Make of It." International Organization
Peter Winch, The Idea of a
Social Science, 1958/1990
William Wohlforth,
"Reality Check: Revising Theories of International Politics in Response to
the End of the Cold War," World Politics Vol. 50, No. 4 (July 1998)
pp. 650‑680.
Richard K. Ashley and R.B.J.
Walker, "Speaking the Language of Exile: Dissident Thought in
International Studies,"International Studies Quarterly, September
1990, pp. 259‑268.
Jim George and David
Campbell, "Patterns of Dissent and the Celebration of Difference: Critical
Social Theory and International Relations," International Studies
Quarterly, September 1990, pp. 269‑293
Yosef Lapid, "The Third
Debate: On the Prospects of International Theory in a Post‑Positivist
Era," International Studies Quarterly, September 1989, pp. 235‑254.
Thomas Biersteker,
"Critical Reflections on Post‑Positivism in International
Relations," International Studies Quarterly, September 1989, pp.
263‑268.
Jim George,
"International Relations and the Search for Thinking Space: Another View
of the Third Debate," International Studies Quarterly, September
1989, pp. 269‑279.
Jeffrey T. Checkel, "The
Constructivist Turn in International Relations Theory," World Politics
January 1998, pp. 324‑348.
II) Case Study Methods
Ragin, The Comparative
Method, 1987.
York Bradshaw and Michael
Wallace, “Informing Generality and Explaining Uniqueness: The Place of Case
Studies in Comparative Research,” International Journal of Comparative
Sociology Jan./April 1991, pp. 154-71.
Cook and Campbell, Quasi‑Experimental
Methods (esp. pp. 37‑91, on threats to validity).
Harry Eckstein, "Case
Studies and Theory in Political Science," in Fred Greenstein and Nelson
Polsby, eds., Handbook of Political Science (Addison‑Wesley, 1975)
vol. 7 pp. 79‑138.
John Frendreis,
"Explanation of Variation and Detection of Covariation: The Purpose and
Logic of Comparative Analysis,"Comparative Political Studies July
1983, pp. 255‑272.
Alexander George, "Case
Studies and Theory Development," in Paul Lauren, ed., Diplomacy: New
Approaches in Theory, History, and Policy (Free Press, 1979) pp. 43‑68.
Alexander George and Tim
McKeown, "Case Studies and Theories of Organizational decision
Making," in Robert Coulam and Richard Smith, eds., Advances in
Information Processing in Organizations (Greenwich, CT. JAI Press, 1985)
pp. 43‑68.
Thomas Homer‑Dixon,
"Strategies for Studying Causation in Complex Ecological Political
Systems," American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1995, pp. 1‑12.
Colin Howson and Peter
Urbach, Scientific Reasoning: A Bayesian Approach (2d edition, Open
Court, 1993).
Deborah Mayo, Error and
the Growth of Experimental Knowledge (Chicago, 1996).
Arend Lijphart, "The
Comparable Cases Strategy in Comparative Research," Comparative
Political Studies, July 1975, pp. 133‑177.
Adam Przeworski and Henry
Teune, The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry (NY, Wiley, 1970).
Charles Ragin,
"Comparative Sociology and Comparative Method," International
Journal of Comparative Sociology vol. 22 nos. 1‑2 (March‑June,
1981, pp. 102‑120.
Neil Smelser,
"Methodology of Comparative Analysis," in his Essays in
Sociological Interpretation, (1968), pp. 62‑75
Charles Tilly, "Means
and Ends of Comparison in Macrosociology," Comparative Social Research
Vol. 16, 1997, pp. 43‑53.
"The Role of Theory in
Comparative Politics: A Symposium," World Politics October 1995,
Essays by Atul Kohli, Peter Evans, Peter Katzenstein, and Theda Skocpol pp. 1‑15,
37‑49.
Theda Skocpol and Margaret
Somers, "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry," Comparative
Studies in Society and History ,Vol. 22 (1980) pp. 156‑173.
Elizabeth Nichols,
"Skocpol on Revolution" Comparative Analysis vs. Historical
Conjuncture," and rejoinder by Theda Skocpol, "Analyzing Causal
Configurations in History," Comparative Social Research Vol. 9,
1986, pp. 163‑186, 187‑194.
III) Critiques and
Justifications of Case Studies and Alternative Methods
Chris Achen and Duncan
Snidal, "Rational Deterrence Theory and Comparative Case Studies,"
Alexander George and Richard
Smoke, "Deterrence and Foreign Policy," and George Downs, "The
Rational Deterrence Debate," in World Politics vol. 41, no. 2
(January, 1989) pp. 143‑182, 225‑237.
Henry Brady, "Symposium
on Designing Social Inquiry," The Political Methodologist vol. 6,
no. 2 (Spring 1995) pp. 11‑19.
Donald Green and Ian Shapiro,
Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory, (Yale, 1994) pp. TBD.
Jeffrey Friedman, ed., The
Rational Choice Controversy (Yale, 1996) pp. TBD.
Andrew Bennett, "Lost in
the Translation: Big (N) Misinterpretations of Case Study Methods," 1997
ISA paper.
Donald Campbell,
"Degrees of Freedom and the Case Study," Comparative Political
Studies 8 no. 2 (July 1975), pp. 178‑193.
Doug Dion, "Evidence and
Inference in the Comparative Case Study," Comparative Politics.
John Ferejohn and Debra Satz,
"Unification, Universalism, and Rational Choice Theory," Critical
Review vol. 9, no.s 1‑2 (Winter‑Spring 1995) pp. 71‑84.
Paul Holland,
"Statistics and Causal Inference," and critiques in December 1986
Journal of the American Statistical Association.
Stanley Lieberson,
"Small N"s and big conclusions," in Charles Ragin and Howard
Becker, What is a case, pp. 105‑118.
"Symposium on Methodological
Foundations of the Study of International Conflict," International
Studies Quarterly June 1985 pp. 119‑154.
James Lee Ray, Democracies
and International Conflict, pp. 158‑198 ("Case Studies,
Covering Laws, and Causality") and pp. 158‑198 ("The Fashoda
Crisis and the Spanish‑American War").
IV) Additional Examples of Case Study Research
International Relations
Graham Allison, Essence of
Decision
Randall Schweller,
"Domestic Structure and Preventive War: Are Democracies More
Pacific?," World Politics Jan. 1992.
Stephen R. Rock, Why Peace Breaks Out
Stephen R. Rock, Appeasement in International
Politics
Brent Sterling, "Policy Choice During Limited War: Using a
Risk‑Based Argument to Account for the Direction of War Aims and the Level
of Means," Ph.D. Thesis, Georgetown University, 1998, pp. TBA (good
example of typological theory).
Alexander George and Richard
Smoke, Deterrence in American Foreign Policy
Bruce Jentleson, Opportunities
Missed, Opportunities Seized: Preventive Diplomacy in the Post‑Cold War
World
Helen Milner, Interests,
Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations
Steve Walt, The Origins of
Alliances
Steve Weber, Cooperation
and Discord in U.S.-Soviet Arms Control
Comparative Politics: See the excellent bibliography of qualitative
research compiled by David Collier at
<http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu:9000/faculty/dcollier.html>
American Politics
Richard Neustadt, Presidential
Power
Stephen Skowronek, The Politics
Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush
Larry Sabato, Media
Feeding Frenzies
Burke and Greenstein, How
Presidents Test Reality
V) Readings on Concept Formation,
Measurement, Uses and Limits of Archival, Interview, and Other Data Sources
Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research
Taylor, Introduction to
Qualitative Research
James Maxwell, Qualitative
Research Design
A. Strauss and J. Corbin, Basics
of Qualitative Research
A. Strauss, Qualitative
Analysis
Lewis Dexter, Elite and
Specialized Interviewing
Gerome Murphy, Getting the
Facts (interview techniques)