GFAD 712: Qualitative Methods
Spring 2000
Mondays, 7-9:30
335 Cabell
David Waldner
146A Cabell
4-6931/daw4h@virginia.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays, 1-3:00
Qualitative or comparative methods are conventionally understood to be responses to the "small-n" problem, ie research designs encompassing many candidate hypotheses but too few cases to employ statistical methods. The solution to this problem is for comparativists and others treating a small number of cases to mimic quantitative methods. In part, this course will take seriously this critique and proposed remedies. In our more ambitious moments, however, we will explore a series of epistemological and ontological issues that might support an alternative reading of contemporary methodological debates, one that gives far more priority to case studies in establishing adequate causal explanations. The point is not to replace one methodological dogma with another, but to open up new areas of inquiry and to defend a multiplicity of methodological options by linking each of these options to its philosophical foundation. Along the way, we will discuss more conventional issues of research design, and students are encouraged to introduce their own work into our debates. But students should be warned that the goal of the class is not to produce a recipe book of research design algorithms.
The main requirement of the course is to do the reading and come to class prepared to discuss it. The reading list is long, but we typically only read lots of short pieces or selections from longer pieces. As for written assignments, I would like students to construct their own course assignments. Ideally, you will all write a thesis prospectus or thesis chapter, one that draws liberally on issues and readings from the course. Those of you not at that stage will need to choose another assignment, such as a series of short papers; a final paper exploring in detail one of the themes of the course, a critical essay such as those by listed below in the readings for April 4 or 11--I’ll even consider assigning a midterm and final exam to students who wish to take them. The point is that your written work should ultimately help you to apply this material toward your own research.
The following books have been ordered through the UVA bookstore:
Popper, Logic of Scientific Discovery
Hume, Enquiry into Human Understanding
Lieberson, Making It Count
Ragin, Comparative Method
Tetlock and Belkin, Counterfactual Thought Experiments
Friedman, Rational Choice Controvery
Readings marked with an asterisk below have been placed on reserve at Clemons Library. All other readings have been xeroxed and placed in the graduate student lounge.
January 24: Introduction
January 31:
*Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, sections 1-36, 43, 79-85.
*Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions chapters II, IV, VII, and XII. Along the way, take a quick look at VI and VII: you can get their main points by reading the first and last two pages of each chapter.
Imre Lakatos, "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs," in Lakatos and Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, 91-138, 154-59, 173-80.
February 7: Positivism
David Hume, An Enquiry into Human Understanding, sections 1-7.
Carl Hempel, "The Function of General Laws in History," in Martin and McIntyre, Readings in the Philosophy of Science 43-53.
-----, "Statistical Explanations," in his Aspects of Scientific Explanation, 376-393.
Richard Bernstein, "Empirical Theory," in his Restructuring of Social and Political Theory, 3-21, 24-42.
Milton Friedman, "The Methodology of Positive Economics," in Daniel M. Hausman, ed., The Philosophy of Economics, 210-38.
Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics chapter 1.
*Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Mehodology for Students of Political Science, chapter 1.
Daniel Geller and J. David Singer, Nations at War, 12-30.
Jack Snyder, "Science and Sovietology: Bridging the Methods Gap in Soviet Foreign Policy Studies," World Politics 40 (January 1988): 169-93.
February 14: Quantitative Approaches to Causality Reconsidered
Paul Holland, "Statistics and Causal Inference," Journal of the American Statistical Association 81 (December 1986):945-959.
Daniel Little, "Statistical Analysis," in his Varieties of Social Explanation, 159-79.
*Vaughan McKim, "Introduction," Stephen Turner, "‘Net Effects’: A Short History," and David Freedman, "From Association to Causation via Regression," all in Vaughn R. McKim and Stephen P. Turner, eds., Causality in Crisis? Statistical Methods and the Search for Causal Knowledge in the Social Science, 1-19, 23-44, and 113-57.
Stanley Lieberson, Making it Count: The Improvement of Social Research and Theory.
Adam Przeworski, "Contribution to Symposium on The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics," World Politics 48 (October 1995): 16-21.
February 21: Beyond Correlations: An Introduction to Causal Realism
*Stephen Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory, 19-50.
Daniel Little, "Causal Analysis," in his Varieties of Social Explanation, chapter 2.
Russell Keat and John Urry, "Realist Philosophy of Science," in their Social Theory as Science, 27-45.
Nancy Cartwright, "The Reality of Causes in a World of Instrumental Laws," in Richard Boyd, et al., The Philosophy of Science, 379-86.
Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences, 3-10.
David Dessler, "Beyond Correlations: Toward a Causal Theory of War," International Studies Quarterly 35 (1991): 337-55.
Ian Shapiro and Alexander Wendt, "The Difference Realism Makes: Social Science and the Politics of Consent," Politics & Society 20 (June 1992): 197-223.
Daniel Little, "On the Scope and Limits of Generalizations in the Social Sciences," Synthese 97 (November 1993): 183-207.
Daniel Little, "Causal Explanation in the Social Sciences," chapter 10 in his Microfoundations, Method, and Causation, 197-214.
February 28: Causality: A Closer Look at Probability and Causal Heterogeneity
*Stanley Lieberson, "The Big, Broad Issues in Society and Social History: Application of a Probabilistic Perspective," in Causality in Crisis 359-386.
*Paul Humphreys, The Chances of Explanation: Causal Explanation in the Social, Medical, and Physical Sciences.
James Fearon, "Causes and Counterfactuals in Social Science," and Robert Jervis, "Counterfactuals, Causation, and Complexity," in Philip Tetlock and Aaron Belkin, eds., Counterfactual Thought Experiments in World Politics, 39-67 and 309-316.
Margaret Mooney Marini and Burton Singer, "Causality in the Social Sciences," Sociological Method 18 (1988): 347-371, 376-409.
Charles Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies, chapters 1-2.
*Ira Katznelson, "Structure and Configuration in Comparative Politics," and Alan Zuckerman, "Reformulating Explanatory Standards and Advancing Theory in Comparative Politics," in Mark Lichbach and Alan Zuckerman, eds., Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure, 81-107 and 277-305.
Gabriel Almond and Steven Genco, "Clouds, Clocks, and the Study of Politics," World Politics 29 (July 1977): 489-522.
Sidney Verba, "Some Dilemmas of Comparative Politics," World Politics 20 (October 1967): 111-27.
Ian Hacking, "Duality," in his The Emergence of Probability, 11-17.
Gerd Gigerenzer, et al., "The Implications of Chance," in their The Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life, 271-92.
March 6: Concept Formation
*Larry Laudan, "Conceptual Problems," chapter 2 in his Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth, 45-70.
Lee McIntyre, "Complexity and Social Scientific Laws," Synthese 97 (1993): 209-227.
A. James Gregor, Interpretations of Fascism xi-xxx, 2-23.
Russell S. Faeges, "Theory-Driven Concept Definition: The Challenge of Perverse Classifications," Paper presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the APSA, 1-16.
*Alexander Motyl, Revolutions, Nations, Empires: Conceptual Limits and Theoretical Possibilities, 1-18.
Rosemary H.T. O’Kane, "The Ladder of Abstraction: The Purpose of Comparison and the Practice of Comparing African Coups D’Etat," Journal of Theoretical Politics 5 (1993): 169-93.
Giovanni Sartori, "Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics," American Political Science Review 64 (December 1970): 1033-1053.
Giovanni Sartori, "Comparing, Miscomparing, and the Comparative Method," in Mattei Dogan and Ali Kazancigil, eds., Comparing Nations, 14-34.
David Collier and James Mahon, "Conceptual Stretching Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis," American Political Science Review 87 (December 1993): 845-55.
David Collier and Robert Adcock, "Democracy and Dichotomies: A Pragmatic Approach to Choices about Concepts," Annual Review of Political Science 2 (1999): 537-65.
John Gerring, "What Makes a Concept Good? A Criterial Framework for Understanding Concept Formation in the Social Sciences," Polity 31 (Spring 1999): 357-93.
Recommended Examples of Conceptual Analysis
Zachary Elkins, "Gradations of Democracy? Empirical Tests of Alternative Conceptualizations," American Journal of Political Science (forthcoming, April 2000).
Marcus Kurzer, "Conceptual Roots of Theoretical Disputes," paper presented at the 1997 meeting of the American Political Science Association.
David Collier, "Trajectory of a Concept: ‘Corporatism in the Study of Latin American Politics," in Peter Smith, ed., Latin America in Comparative Perspective, 135-62.
March 13: Spring Break
March 20: The Case for Case Studies
Jack Snyder, "Richness, Rigor, and Relevance in the Study of Soviet Foreign Policy," International Security 9 (Winter 1984/85): 89-108.
York Bradshaw and Michael Wallace, "Informing Generality and Explaining Uniqueness: The Place of Case Studies in Comparative Research," International Journal of Comparative Sociology (January/April 1991): 154-71.
Harry Eckstein, "Case Study and Theory in Political Science," in his Regarding Politics, 117-76.
Arthur Stinchcombe, Constructing Social Theories, 15-38.
Alexander George, "Case Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison," in Paul Gordon Lauren, ed., Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory, and Policy 43-68.
Alexander George and Timoth McKeown, "Case Study and Theory in Political Science," Advances in Information Processing in Organizations 2 (1985): 21-58.
Ernest Nagel, "Genetic Explanations," in his The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation 564-68.
Timothy McKeown, "Hegemonic Stability Theory and 19th-Century Tariff Levels," International Organization (1983): 73-91.
*Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methodology for Students of Political Science, chapter 2.
March 27: Mill and the Comparative Method
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive 8th ed.., 606-13.
Arend Lijphart, "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review 65 (September 1971): 682-93.
Arend Lijphart, "The Comparable-Case Strategy in Comparative Research," Comparative Political Studies 8 (July 1975): 158-77.
E. Gene DeFelice, "Causal Inference and Comparative Methods," Comparative Political Studies 19 (October 1986): 415-37.
John Frendreis, "Explanation of Variation and Detection of Covariation," Comparative Political Studies 16 (July 1983): 255-72.
Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers, "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry," Comparative Studies in Society and History 12 (April 1980): 174-97.
Brian Skyrms, Choice and Chance: An Introduction to Inductive Logic, 75-128.
April 4: Critical Challenges--and Responses
Review King, Keohane, and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, chapter 4.
Stanley Lieberson, "Small Ns and Big Conclusions," in Charles C. Ragin and Howard S. Becker, eds., What is a Case: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry, 105-17.
Chistopher Achen and Duncan Snidal, "Rational Deterrence Theory and Comparative Case Studies," World Politics 41 (January 1989): 144-169.
Barbara Geddes, "How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics," Political Analysis 2 (1990): 131-50.
David Collier and James Mahoney, "Insights and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative Research," World Politics 49 (October 1996): 56-91.
Douglas Dion, "Evidence and Inference in the Comparative Case Study," Comparative Politics 30 (January 1998): 127-146.
Timothy McKeown, "Case Studies and the Statistical Worldview: Review of King, Keohane, and Verba’s, Designing Social Inquiry," International Organization 53 (Winter 1999): 161-90.
Gerardo Munck, "Canons of Research Design in Qualitative Analysis," Studies in Comparative International Development 33 (Fall 1998): 18-45.
David Waldner, State Building and Late Development, chapters 1 and 10.
April 11: Increasing the N
Review King, Keohane, and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, chapter 5-6.
Andrew Bennett, "Lost in the Translation: Big N Misrepresentation of Case Study Research," ms.
Andrew Bennet and Alexander George, "Draft Chapter on Typological Theory," ms.
Ragin, Comparative Method, chapters 6-8.
Dirk Berg-Scholsser and Gisele De Meur, "Conditions of Democracy in Interwar Europe: A Boolean Test of Major Hypotheses," Comparative Politics 26 (April 1994): 253-80.
Dirk Berg-Scholsser and Gisele De Meur, "Conditions of Authoritarianism, Fascism, and Democracy in Interwar Europe: Systematic Matching and Contrasting of Cases for "Small N" Analysis," Comparative Political Studies 29 (August 1996): 423-68.
Michael Coppedge, "Thickening Thin Concepts and Theories: Combining Large N and Small in Comparative Politics," Comparative Politics 31 (July 1999): 465-76.
Robert Jackman, Cross-National Statistical Research and the Study of Comparative Politics," American Journal of Political Science 29 (Feb. 1985): 161-82.
April 18: Macrocausal Analysis
Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons, 74-86.
Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier, Shaping the Political Arena, 3-39.
Stinchcombe, Constructing Social Theories, 101-30.
Paul David, "CLIO and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review 75 (May 1985):: 332-37.
Paul Pierson, "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review (forthcoming).
James Mahoney, "Uses of Path Dependence in Historical Sociology," Paper presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the APSA, 3-40.
James Mahoney, "Nominal, Ordinal, and Narrative Appraisal in Macrocausal Analysis," American Journal of Sociology 104 (January 1999): 1154-96.
Ruth Berins Collier, "Combining Alternative Perspectives: Internal Trajectories versus External Influences as Explanations of Latin American Politics in the 1940s," Comparative Politics 26 (October 1993): 1-29.
Robert Bates, et al., "Introduction," and "Conclusion," and Barry Weingast, "Political Stability and Civil War: Institutions, Commitment, and American Democracy," in Bates, et al., Analytic Narratives, 3-18, 231-36, 148-90.
April 25: Microcausal Analysis
*Donald Green and Ian Shapiro, Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory: A Critique of Applications in Political Science, chapters 2 and 3.
Jeffrey Friedman, ed., The Rational Choice Controversy: Economic Models of Politics Reconsidered.
May 2: Counterfactuals and some final thoughts
Tetlock and Belkin, Counterfactual Thought Experiments in World Politics, chapters 1, 3-6, 9-10.
Ian Lustick, "History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection Bias," American Political Science Review 90 (September 1996): 605-18.
Ian Lustick, "Lijphart, Lakatos, and Consociationalism," World Politics 50 (October 1997): 88-117.