Maxwell > Moynihan > Consortium on Qualitative Research Methods

SCHEDULE AND Reading List for 2012 Institute for qualitative and multi-method research

There are three types of institute sessions: (1) Unified (whole institute) classes; (2) research design discussion groups; and (3) elective modules.

The unified classes are on the first Monday (6/18), the first Wednesday (6/20), and the first Friday (6/22). (Please note that the 6/22 unified classes U10 and U11 are not included in the grid below. They are on how to get funding and how to get published.)

The research design discussion groups will be held for two hours on most mornings of the institute. A separate schedule will be available.

There are 21 elective modules, of which students will select eight; that is, they will choose one or the other of the modules that are offered concurrently as pairs (e.g., module 1 or module 2) or one of those offered as triples (e.g. modules 5, 6 and 7).

6/18	Unified (whole institute) sessions on different approaches to qualitative analysis (U1, U2, U3, U4, U5 and U6)
6/19	1) Typologies and Typological Theory			or	2) Discourse Analysis
6/20	Unified (whole institute) sessions on process tracing (U7, U8, U9)
6/21	3) Tools of Comparative Research I			or	4) Reading at the Limit
6/22	5) Tools of Comparative Research II	or	6) Strategies of Causal Inference			or	7) Between Theory and Practice
6/25	8) Natural Experiments I	or	9) Designing and Conducting Fieldwork I			or	10) QCA and Fuzzy Sets I
6/26	11) Natural Experiments II	or	12) Designing and Conducting Fieldwork II			or	13) 10) QCA and Fuzzy Sets II
6/27	14) Quantitative and Qualitative I	or	15) Ethnography I			or	16) Content Analysis I
6/28	17) Quantitative and Qualitative II	or	18) Ethnography II			or	19) Content Analysis II
6/29	20) Historiography and Archival Research			or	21) Qualitative Data Analysis

Choosing Which Modules to Take

Most of the 21 modules can be taken as stand-alone units. However, there are several modules which follow in a natural sequence and/or lend themselves to being taken as a group. These sequences are:

All of the module pairs numbered roman numeral I and II. (In addition, module II in those sequences should ordinarily only be taken in combination module I; that is, while it is fine to take I and not II in a sequence, it is usually not a good idea to take II and not I.)

Module 6 (Strategies of Causal Inference), Modules 8 and 11 (Natural Experiments I and II), and Modules 14 and 17 (Quantitative and Qualitative I and II).

Module 2 (Discourse Analysis), Module 4 (Reading at the Limit), Module 7 (Between Theory and Practice), and Modules 15 and 18 (Ethnography I and II).

Modules 3 and 5 (Tools of Comparative Research I and II), and Modules 10 and 13 (QCA and Fuzzy sets I and II).

Modules 9 and 12 (Designing and Conducting Fieldwork I and II), Modules 15 and 18 (Political Ethnography I and II), and Module 20 (Historiography and Archival Research.

Books to Purchase or Otherwise Obtain

The reading for some unified classes and modules includes a book or books that must be purchased, or borrowed from your university library [please note that they are unlikely to be available at the SU bookstore or library]. You will also see that there is some overlap: some books are used in more than one module.

U3, MODULE 1, MODULE 8, MODULE 14: Henry E. Brady and David Collier, Eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards 2nd Edition (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2010).

MODULE 2: Lisa Wedeen, Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (University of Chicago Press, 2008).

U4, U7, MODULE 1: Alexander George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (The MIT Press, 2005)

MODULE 6: Stephen L. Morgan, Christopher Winship. Counterfactuals and Causal Inference: Methods and Principles for Social Research (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

MODULE 6: John Gerring, 2012. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012). [Do not purchase the first edition, which is quite different.]

MODULE 5: James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

MODULE 10: Charles C. Ragin. Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. (University of Chicago Press, 2008).

Manuscripts in Press or in Progress

To the extent possible, IQMR uses the most up-to-date readings on the methods taught at the institute. One consequence is that we are often using manuscripts that are either in press or in progress.

Please note that the authors are allowing us to use these materials as a courtesy. As with all IQMR materials, they are made available for current attendees’ use only.

Monday June 19 – “Unified” (i.e. whole institute) classes

U1 8:30am – 9:00am – Introduction and Logistics

Colin Elman

U1.1. David Collier and Colin Elman, “Qualitative and Multimethod Research: Organizations, Publications, and Reflection on Integration.” In Janet Box-Steffensemeir, Henry Brady, and -David Collier, eds., Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology (Oxford, 2008), pp. 779-795.
U1.2 James Mahoney, After KKV: The New Methodology of Qualitative Research World Politics 62(1) (January 2010): 120-47.

U2 9:00am-9:35am – Exercise

John Gerring

U3 9:35am – 10:35am Within Case and Small-N Comparisons

Andrew Bennett

U.3.1. Alexander George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (The MIT Press, 2005), Preface and chapter 1. (Book to purchase)
U.3.2. David Collier, Henry E. Brady, and Jason Seawright, Introduction to the Second Edition: A Sea Change in Political Methodology, in Henry E. Brady and David Collier, Eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards 2^nd Edition (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.). (Book to purchase)

Recommended:

U.3.3. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, “A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research,” Political Analysis 2001, Vol. 14 issue 2, pp. 227-249 (note: this is the article-length version of the argument that Gary and Jim have now expanded into a book manuscript that they will be using for their institute module. Students not taking that module may want to at least read this article-length version, but those taking the module may find the article redundant).
U.3.4. Henry Brady, “Causation and Explanation in Social Science,” chapter 10 in the Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, Janet Box-Steffensmeir, Henry Brady, and David Collier, eds., Oxford University Press, 2009.

10:35am - 11:05am Coffee Break

U4 11:05am - 12:05pm A Unified Framework for Social Science Methodology

John Gerring

U.4.1. John Gerring. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2d ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Preface, chapters 1, 12-13.

Recommended:

U.4.2. John Gerring. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2d ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Other chapters]

12:05 - 2:00pm Lunch

U5 2:00pm - 3:00pm The Interpretive Approach to Qualitative Research

Lisa Wedeen

U.5.1. Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture" in The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books, 1973.
U.5.2. Clifford Geertz, "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight," in The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books, 1973.
U.5.3. Michel Foucault, "The body of the condemned," (Chapter 1) in Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Vintage Books, 1995. (That's the second edition; the 1979 first edition is fine too).
U.5.4. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow, "Interpretive Analytics," (Chapter 5). In Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics , Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983, second edition.

3:00pm – 3:30pm Coffee Break

U6 3:30pm – 4:00 pm Exercise Debrief

John Gerring

U7 4:00pm - 5:15pm Roundtable on “How Do We Bring All of this Together?” The Implications of Multiple Approaches to Qualitative and Multi-Method Research

Lisa Wedeen, Colin Elman, Andrew Bennett, John Gerring

Tuesday, June 19 Module 1 Typologies and Typological Theory - Andrew Bennett and Jody LaPorte

8:45am - 10:15am Typologies

Jody LaPorte

1.1.1. David Collier, Jody LaPorte, and Jason Seawright. Forthcoming June 2012. “Putting Typologies to Work: Levels of Measurement, Concept-Formation, and Analytic Rigor.” Political Research Quarterly 64, No. 2 (March 2012): 217–32.

1.1.2. Colin Elman, “Explanatory Typologies and Property Space in Qualitative Studies of International Politics,” International Organization, Spring 2005, pp. 293-326.
1.1.3. David Collier and Steven Levitsky. “Democracy: Conceptual Hierarchies in Comparative Research.” In Concepts and Method in Social Science: The Tradition of Giovanni Sartori, eds. David Collier and John Gerring. Oxford: Routledge, 2009. Pp. 269 – 272 only.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:15pm Typological Theory

Andrew Bennett,

1.2.1. Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, (The MIT Press, 2005), chapter 11 (book to purchase).

1.2.2. Colin Elman, “Explanatory Typologies and Property Space in Qualitative Studies of International Politics,” International Organization, Spring 2005, pp. 293-326. (also assigned as 1.1.2).
1.2.3. Excerpt from Andrew Bennett, “Causal mechanisms and typological theories in the study of civil conflict,” in Jeff Checkel, ed., Transnational Dynamics of Civil War, Columbia University Press, forthcoming 2012.
1.2.4. Edelstein, David, "Occupational Hazards: Why Military Occupations Succeed or Fail," International Security Vol. 29 No. 1 (Summer 2004) pp. 49-56, 80-91.

Reading and discussion questions: How might Edelstein cast his theory as a more complete typological theory - - that is, what variables might he add or re-conceptualize? What are the costs and benefits of re-casting his theory in this way? What are some alternative ways he might do case selection from among the population he has identified? What cases might you choose from Edelstein’s list to test and develop his theory? What cases might provide most-similar case comparisons? What cases are deviant or anomalous cases for Edelstein’s theory? What cases according to Edelstein’s table are most and least similar to the US and coalition occupation of Iraq? Of the cases most similar to the occupation of Iraq, how many succeeded?

12: 15pm - 1:45pm Lunch.

1:45pm - 3:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Exercises in Typological Theorizing

Andrew Bennett

The success of this session is highly dependent on students doing active preparation, so the readings are short. Please thoroughly think through the following questions, and take notes or outlines of your answers so you can raise them in the class discussion:

For the Bennett, Lepgold, and Unger (BLU) reading and the data on contributions to later coalitions, prepare answers to the following questions: Are there any anomalies for the BLU theory in the UNPROFOR and IFOR coalitions in the Balkans in the 1990s? Are there anomalies for the BLU theory in the coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan? From these anomalies, what variables might be added to the BLU theory? What would be interesting deviant cases to study in any of these four coalitions? What most similar case comparisons might be made among these four coalitions?

For the Goldstone and Washington Post readings, try translating Goldstone’s argument into a typological theory with a summary table that you can present in a single page. I will ask for volunteers in the class to project their table for the class to discuss (if you’d like to volunteer, email your table to me at hoyafac.gmail.com, preferably by the night before class but no later than 3:30 p.m. on the day of class). In class, I will select one or a few volunteers to display their tables and ask them to describe how they derived them, what were the most difficult choices they made in doing so, and how this exercise helped them understand Goldstone’s theory, the Arab Spring, and revolutions in general. We will also discuss the questions of whether there are any anomalies for Goldstone’s theory, whether any parts of his theory appear ad hoc, what earlier revolutions are most analogous to those in each of the Arab Spring countries, and which revolutions or non-revolutions are most similar to the 2011-2012 non-revolutions in Bahrain, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, and other states in the Middle East and beyond.

1.3.1. Bennett, Lepgold, and Unger, Friends in Need, pp. 24-28
1.3.2. Data on UNPROFOR, IFOR, Afghanistan, and Iraq coalition contributions
1.3.3. Jack Goldstone, “Understanding the Revolutions of 2011,” Foreign Affairs May/June 2011
1.3.4. Washington Post, Obama Administration Studies Recent Revolutions for Lessons Applicable in Egypt

Tuesday, June 19 Module 2 Discourse Analysis - Lisa Wedeen and Jennifer Pitts

This module provides students with an introduction to three different modes of discourse analysis. Students will learn to "read" texts while becoming familiar with contemporary thinking about interpretation, narrative, and social construction. In these three sessions we shall explore the following methods: Foucault’s “interpretive analytics”; Wittgenstein’s understanding of language as activity and its relevance to ordinary language-use analysis (including theories of “performativity”); and the techniques of the Cambridge school.

8:45am - 10:15am Wittgenstein and Ordinary Language-Use Analysis

Lisa Wedeen,

This session introduces students to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought and its relationship to ordinary language-use methods. We shall focus on several key ways in which Wittgensteinian-inspired methods can be used in ethnographic and analytical research. Among the questions we shall ask are: What is the “value added” of concentrating on language? Why is understanding language as an activity important? How can social scientists grapple with vexed issues of intention? What does “performative” mean, and how do political theories about language as performative differ from discussions of performance? How can social scientists uninterested in taking on new jargon use this kind of political theory to further their theoretical and empirical work?

2.1.1. Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, Wittgenstein and Justice: On the Significance of Ludwig Wittgenstein for Social and Political Thought, (University of California Press, 1972), chapter 8 “Justice, Socrates and Thrasymachus,” pp. 169-192.
2.1.2. Lisa Wedeen, Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Conclusion (book to purchase).
2.1.3. Wittgenstein, The Philosophical Investigations (Translated by G.E.M. Anscombe), (Blackwell Publishers, 2001), Paragraphs 1-33; paragraph 154; pages 194-195

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break

10:45am - 12:15pm Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

Lisa Wedeen

This session introduces students to the techniques of Foucauldian discourse analysis or “interpretive analytics.” Students will learn how to conduct a discourse analysis, what the underlying assumptions of such an analysis are, and how these techniques can be used to advance political inquiry. The session will consider both the power and limitations of the method, the ways in which it differs from other modes of interpretation, and its advantages over content analysis.

2.3.1. Michel Foucault, Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews, edited, with an introduction by Donald F. Bouchard ; translated from the French by Donald F. Bouchard and Sherry Simon (Cornell University Press, 1977),”Nietzsche, Genealogy, History,” pp. 139-164.
2.3.2. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, translated from the French by Robert Hurley, Vol. 1, pp. 1-35 and pp. 92-114.

Recommended

2.3.3. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow, Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), Part Two.

12: 15pm - 1:45pm Lunch

1:45pm - 3:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break

4:00pm - 5:30pm Cambridge/Skinnerian Discourse Analysis

Jennifer Pitts

This session will consider the so-called linguistic turn in the history of political thought, through some key statements by Quentin Skinner, as well as attention to two sources on which he has drawn, Collingwood’s idea of questions and answers, and Austin’s arguments about intention. We will consider such questions as: How do we go about reconstructing the questions that a given thinker is asking? What does it mean (and is it possible) to recover or articulate the intentions of an author? How does this differ from seeking to establish the meaning of a text? Why is the recovery of contexts important for these tasks, how do we know which contexts to recover, and has the approach been too focused on intellectual contexts at the expense of other relevant contexts? Recommended readings include some criticisms of the approach.

2.2.1. Quentin Skinner, “The rise of, challenge to, and prospects for a Collingwoodian approach to the history of political thought,” in The history of political thought in national context, ed. Dario Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk (2001), 175-88.
2.2.2. Quentin Skinner, Visions of Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2002), “Introduction: Seeing things their way,” 1-7; “Meaning and understanding in the history of ideas,” 57-102.

Recommended

2.2.3. Austin, J. L. (John Langshaw) Austin, How To Do Things With Words (Harvard University Press, 1962), pp. 1-24, 94-120
2.2.4. R. G. Collingwood, An autobiography (Oxford University Press, 1931, reprinted 1951), “Question and Answer,” pp. 27-43.
2.2.5. David Scott, Conscripts of Modernity (Duke, 2004), “Prologue,” 1-22

Wednesday June 20 – “Unified” (i.e. whole institute) classes - Process Tracing - Andrew Bennett and James Mahoney

8:45am - 10:15am U7 -Process Tracing IAndrew Bennett, Georgetown University

This session outlines the logic and methods of within-case forms of analysis, particularly process tracing. It addresses the epistemological underpinnings and practical methods of process tracing, illustrating these with examples from the work of Scott Sagan, Yuen Foong Khong, and Andrew Bennett. Reading and discussion questions students should consider in advance of this session include: What is the relationship between process tracing and causal mechanisms? What kinds of iterations between changes in a theory and process tracing evidence are defensible? How does process tracing compensate for some of the weaknesses of qualitative methods that rely on comparison or covariation? How is process tracing different from analysis of covariation? Does process tracing rely on a Bayesian logic, or can it be modeled as such? Must process tracing focus at the micro level and individuals, or can it be applied to macro level processes? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the ways in which Sagan and Khong have used process tracing?

U.7.1 . Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences (The MIT Press, 2005), (chapters 7 and 10) (book to purchase)
U.7.2. Andrew Bennett, “Process Tracing: A Bayesian Approach,” in Janet Box-Steffensemeir, Henry Brady, and David Collier, eds., Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology (Oxford, 2008) 702-721.
U.7.3. Andrew Bennett and Jeff Checkel, Process Tracing: From Philosophical Roots to Best Practices;” read pp. 27-40.

Assess the following examples of process tracing by Scott Sagan and Kristin Bakke using the ten criteria that Bennett and Checkel lay out, and prepare to discuss your assessment in class:"

U.7.4. Scott Sagan, The Limits of Safety, pp. 1-14, 45-52.
U.7.5. Kristin Bakke, “Copying and learning from outsiders? Assessing diffusion from transnational insurgents in the Chechen Wars.”

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm To be determined.

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm U8 Process Tracing II: Testing Hypotheses with Process Tracing

James Mahoney, Northwestern University

This session explores the ways in which process tracing can be used to test hypotheses in the social sciences. Attention is focused on hypotheses that have the generic form: X was a cause of Y in case Z. For example: peasant community solidarity was a cause of revolution in France. Using examples from real research, the session explains how and why individual pieces of evidence can be used to test this hypothesis. The session makes explicit the underlying assumptions of major process tracing tests.

U.8.1. James Mahoney, “The Logic of Process Tracing Tests in the Social Sciences,” Sociological Methods and Research, forthcoming.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Process Tracing III: Counterfactual Analysis; Discussion of Examples; Excerpts from Book Manuscript in progress on Different Types and Uses of Process Tracing

Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University

U.9.1. David Collier, “Understanding Process Tracing.” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, No. 4 (October 2011): 823–30.
U.9.2. Sherry Zaks, “Relationships among Rivals: Contending Hypotheses and the Logic of Process Tracing.” Unpublished manuscript, Department of Political Science, University of California, Davis, 2012.
U.9.3. David Collier, “Teaching Process Tracing: Exercises and Examples.” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, No. 4 (October 2011). (Published online by PS to accompany “Understanding Process Tracing.”) Note: 7.2 through 7.5 will be addressed in the session

Recommended:

If ready, draft book chapters on process tracing will be made available.

U.9.4. Henry E. Brady, “Data-Set Observations versus Causal Process Observations: The 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections.”In Rethinking Social Inquiry, eds. Henry E. Brady and David Collier. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers: Lanham, 2010. 237 – 242. (Book to purchase)
U.9.5. Philip E. Tetlock and Aaron Belkin, eds., Counterfactual Thought Experiments in World Politics, Chapters 1, 12. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Thursday, June 21 Module 3 Tools for Comparative Research I - James Mahoney and Gary Goertz

8:45am - 10:15am Introduction to Set Theory and Logic for Social Scientists

James Mahoney

This session discusses key ideas from logic and set theory that underpin many qualitative methods. Central attention is focused on ideas of necessary and sufficient conditions (and their derivatives). The session also contrasts logic/set theory with statistics/probability theory.

3.1.1. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, “Mathematical Prelude: A Selective Introduction to Logic and Set Theory for Social Scientists,” chap. 2 in Goertz and Mahoney, A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences . (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2012), 16-38.

Recommended

3.1.2. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, “Generalizations” chap. 15 in Goertz and Mahoney, A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 192-204.
3.1.3. Gary Goertz, “The Substantive Importance of Necessary Condition Hypotheses,” Gary Goertz and Harvey Starr, eds., Necessary Conditions: Theory, Methodology, and Applications (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Two Cultures: Contrasting Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Gary Goertz

This session contrasts an approach to qualitative and multimethod research based on the statistical paradigm with one based on within-case causal analysis and logic.

3.2.1. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, chapters 4-6, 8-9. A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 51-83, 100-124.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Social Science Concepts

Gary Goertz

This session provides basic guidelines for the construction and evaluation of concepts. In particular, it provides a framework for addressing complex concepts, which are typical in social science research.

3.3.1. Goertz, Gary, Social Science Concepts: A User’s Guide (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), chaps. 1‐2.
3.3.2. Goertz, Gary and James Mahoney, chapters 11 and 13 of A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 139-149, 161-173.

Thursday, June 21 Module 4 Reading at the Limit - Anne Norton and Victoria Hattam

This module examines the role of visuality in political inquiry. Visuality informs interpretive protocols and practices. The model of the linear and unidirectional text informs standards of argument and conceptions of causality. The tropes of visuality, perhaps most notably that of “observation” become the concepts of social science. We propose both to exploit and to critique the resources of visuality for political science.

8:45am - 10:15am Reading at the Limit: The model of the text

(With apologies to Paul Ricoeur) The ordinary practices of the political require constant reading: of bodies, gestures, and commodities as well as the more obtrusively labeled texts of politics. This session looks to these protocols of reading taking for the exemplary event a reading of the legible body as raced. The session also explores the utility and limits of semiotics as a formal interpretive technique.

4.1.1. Frantz Fanon, chapter 5 “The Fact of Blackness,” in Black Skin White Masks, trans. Charles Lam Markmann (New York: Grove Press 1967)
4.1.2. Roland Barthes, “Myth Today,” from Mythologies trans. Ronald and Annette Lavers (NY: Farrar Straus Giroux 1972)

Exercise: read an image as a text

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch

2:00pm - 3:30pm Reading at the Limit: Beyond the text - What accompanies, exceeds, undoes reading

Anne Norton and Victoria Hattam

Evocative objects, the atmosphere of a room, moments of madness all carry with them considerable political force. How might we explore these extended domains of the political? This session focuses on visuality as a site of politics beyond the text: Are there some things that can be said visually that are not sayable in words? How are identifications and disagreements expressed visually? Particular attention will be paid to the relationship among image, affect, and time

4.2.1. WTJ Mitchell, “The Unspeakable and the Unimaginable,” in Cloning Terror: The War of Images, 9/11 to the Present (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).
4.2.2. Sarah Ahmed, “Affective Economies,” Social Text 79, Vol 22, No 2 (Summer 2004): 117-139.
4.2.3. Sharon Sliwinski, “Visual Testimony: Lee Miller’s Dachau,” Journal of Visual Culture 9, 3 (December 2010): 389-408.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Reading at the Limit: Reading out of bounds

Anne Norton and Victoria Hattam

In this session we will examine how the norms of reading inform and limit political science. We will re-read works presented in the collective sessions of the course. The critique will extend to concepts, techniques and standards extant not only in quantitative and behavioural but in qualitative and interpretive political science. The problems to be examined in this session include: observation, linear temporality (including causality), representation, translation, and the aesthetics of authority.

Show short video

Readings from this session will be drawn from the Unified Sessions. Students should be familiar with

4.3.1. (repeats U.5.3.) Michel Foucault, "The body of the condemned," (Chapter 1) in Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
4.3.2. (repeats U.3.4.) Nathaniel Beck, 2010. “Causal Process ‘Observation’: Oxymoron or (Fine) Old Wine,” Political Analysis 18, No. 4 (Fall (2010): 499-505.
4.3.3. E. Nagel, "Problems of Concepts and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences," in Science, Language and Human Rights, American Philosophical Association, ed., vol. 1, (Philadelphia, 1952).

A Recommended Reading will be distributed on the day.

Friday, June 22 - Unified Sessions on Obtaining Funding and Getting Published

10:30am - 11:40am U10 Obtaining Funding (unified class)

Erik Herron, National Science Foundation

What are the features of successful grant proposals? This session offers guidelines designed to help you not only secure funding for your project but also use the proposal writing process to move forward in the research itself.

U.10.1. Adam Przeworski and Frank Salomon, “On the Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions”, New York: Social Science Research Council, 1998.
U.10.2.Barry Weingast, “Structuring Your Papers (Caltech Rules)”, Stanford University, April 1995 (revised 2010).

11:45am-12.50pm U11 Getting Publishing (unified class)

John Ishiyama, Editor, American Political Science Review

On the writing and preparing:

U.11.1. Stephen K. Donovan, How to Alienate Your Editor: A Practical Guide for Established Authors. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 36 (4): 238-242. Read pp. 240-242, 2005.
U.11.2. Stephen K. Donovan, Putting Editors to Trouble (or People of That Sort). Journal of Scholarly Publishing 41 (1): 103-109, 2009.
U.11.3. James A. Stimson, Professional Writing in Political Science: A Highly Opinionated Essay. Paper, University of North Carolina. Retrieved from: www.unc.edu/_jstimson/Writing.pdf [Skip portions that are not relevant for you.]

On rejection:

U.11.4. Stephen K. Donovan, The Importance of Resubmitting Rejected Papers. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 38 (3): 151-155, 2007.
U.11.5. Gregory Weeks, Facing Failure: The Use (and Abuse) of Rejection in Political Science. PS: Political Science and Politics 39 (4): 876-882, 2006.

Also Recommended

U.11.6. For reflections of a previous editor: Dina A. Zinnes, “Reflections of a Past Editor,” PS: Political Science and Politics 18 (3): 607-612, 1985.
U.11.7. Data (the quantitative kind): Michael S. Lewis-Beck and Dena Levy, “Correlates of Publication Success: Some AJPS Results,” PS: Political Science and Politics 26 (3): 558-561, 1993.

12: 50pm - 2:15pm Lunch.

Friday, June 22 Module 5 Tools for Comparative Research II - James Mahoney and Gary Goertz

8:30am - 10:00am Causal Sequences and Process Tracing

James Mahoney

This session provides a framework, based on set theory, for analyzing causal sequences. The framework offers new tools for assessing the relative importance of causes located at different points in a historical sequence. The session also considers how these same tools are used in process tracing tests.

5.1.1. James Mahoney, Erin Kimball, and Kendra Koivu, “The Logic of Historical Explanation in the Social Sciences,” Comparative Political Studies 42:1 (January 2009), pp. 114-146.
5.1.2. James Mahoney, “The Logic of Process Tracing Tests in the Social Sciences,” Sociological Methods and Research, forthcoming.

10:00am - 10:30am Coffee Break.

10:30am - 11:40am U10 Obtaining Funding (unified class)

Erik Herron, National Science Foundation

11:45am-12.50pm U11 Getting Publishing (unified class)

John Ishiyama, Editor, American Political Science Review

2:15pm - 3:45pm Comparative-Historical Analysis

James Mahoney

This session considers substantive work in the field of comparative-historical analysis. Using examples from my own research, the session explores the way in which comparative-historical analysis assesses existing theory, develops new theory, explains general patterns, and identifies causes specific to particular cases. The session also examines applications of path-dependent analysis.

5.2.1. James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, “Comparative Historical Analysis: Achievements and Agendas,” in James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 3-38.

Recommended:

5.2.2. James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

3:45pm - 4:15pm Coffee Break.

4:15pm - 5:45pm Case Selection and Multimethod Research Designs

Gary Goertz

This session offers practical considerations for selecting certain specific cases for intensive analysis. The session develops guidelines and rules for choosing cases that will allow qualitative researchers to achieve maximum leverage for causal inference.

5.3.1. Gary Goertz, “Case studies, causal mechanisms, and selecting cases” Manuscript 2012.

Recommended:

5.3.2. Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, “Case Selection and Hypothesis Testing”chap. 14 in Goertz and Mahoney, A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting the Qualitative and Quantitative Research Paradigms (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 177-191.
5.3.3. James Mahoney and Gary Goertz, “The Possibility Principle: Choosing Negative Cases in Qualitative Research,” American Political Science Review 98:4 (November 2004), pp. 653‐670.
5.3.4. Evan Lieberman, “Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research,” American Political Science Review 99:3 (2005), pp. 435-52.

Friday, June 22 Module 6 Strategies of Causal Inference - John Gerring and Adam Glynn

Causal inference is the goal of most social science research. Recent years have seen a prodigious amount of work devoted to the meaning of causality and to methods of causal inference. Our intention is to introduce this topic in a way that is relatively (though of course not entirely) comprehensive, paying special attention to the role of causal graphs (Judea Pearl et al.) as a unifying framework. In the final session, we present a typology of research designs that features “noncovariational” approaches (approaches that do not rely solely on X/Y covariation and conditioning on confounders) for reaching causal inference.

8:30am - 10:00am Causal Arguments and Research Designs: A Nontechnical Account

John Gerring and Adam Glynn

6.1.1. John Gerring, Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Skim chs 2-4, noting tables 2.1, 3.1, & 4.1, which summarize the argument of those chapters. Read carefully chs 8-10.

Background

6.1.2. Henry E. Brady, “Models of Causal Inference: Going Beyond the Neyman-Rubin-Holland Model,” 2003.
6.1.3. James Heckman, “The Scientific Model of Causality.” Sociological Methodology 35,2005, 1-97.
6.1.4. James Heckman, “Econometric Causality.” International Statistical Review 76:1, 2008, 1-27.
6.1.5. Margaret Marini and Burton Singer, “Causality in the Social Sciences.” In Clifford Clogg (ed), Sociological Methodology 18, 1988, 347-409.
6.1.6. Donald Rubin, “Causal Inference Using Potential Outcomes: Design, Modeling, Decisions.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 100, 2005, 322-31.

10:00am - 10:30am Coffee Break.

10:30am - 11:40am U10 Obtaining Funding (unified class)

Erik Herron, National Science Foundation

11:45am-12.50pm U11 Getting Publishing (unified class)

John Ishiyama, Editor, American Political Science Review

12: 50pm - 2:15pm Lunch.

2:15pm - 3:45pm Potential Outcomes and Causal Graphs

John Gerring and Adam Glynn

6.2.1. Stephen L. Morgan and Christopher Winship. Counterfactuals and Causal Inference: Methods and Principles for Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. [Read chs 1-3; skim other chapters according to interest.]

Background

6.2.2. Judea Pearl, Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. [Chapters 1, 3, and others according to interest.]
6.2.3. Miguel Hernan and James Robins. [Forthcoming] Causal Inference. Chapman & Hall. [Chapters 1-3, 6-7.] [ www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/miguel-hernan/causal-inference-book/]

3:45pm - 4:15pm Coffee Break.

4:15pm - 5:45pm Using Causal Graphs to Discover and Explicate Research Designs

John Gerring and Adam Glynn

6.3.1. John Gerring. Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Ch 11.

6.3.2. Adam N. Glynn and John Gerring. “Strategies of Research Design with an Unmeasured Confounder: A Graphical Description.” Unpublished manuscript. Department of Government, Harvard University, 2012. [ http://people.bu.edu/jgerring/Methodology.html]

Recommended:

6.3.3. Stephen L. Morgan and Christopher Winship. Counterfactuals and Causal Inference: Methods and Principles for Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Chs 6-8.

6.3.4. Judea Pearl, Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge, 2009.

Friday, June 22 Module 7 Between Theory and Practice - Ted Hopf and Bentley Allan

How should interpretive scholars make the move from methodological theory to concrete research practices? In this module we draw on our personal research experience and examples from the literature to give applied advice for doing discourse analysis and finding practices in the real sites and institutions of international politics.

8:30am - 10:00am Practical Methods of Discourse Analysis

Ted Hopf and Bentley Allan

Description: Discourse analysis can meet social scientific standards while capturing meaning. This session theorizes discourse and outlines practical methods for uncovering discursive evidence from texts.

7.1.1. Ted Hopf, The Social Construction of International Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002, Chapter 1.
7.1.2. Ted Hopf, “Discourse and Content Analysis: Some Fundamental Incompatibilities.” Qualitative Methods Newsletter Spring 2004: 32-34.
7.1.3. Jennifer Milliken, “The Study of Discourse in International Relations: A Critique of Research and Methods.” European Journal of International Relations Vol. 5, No. 2, 1999: 225-254.

10:00am - 10:30am Coffee Break.

10:30am - 11:40am U10 Obtaining Funding (unified class)

Erik Herron, National Science Foundation

11:45am-12.50pm U11 Getting Publishing (unified class)

John Ishiyama, Editor, American Political Science Review

12: 50pm - 2:15pm Lunch.

2:15pm - 3:45pm Discursive Structures and Discursive Sites in International Society

Ted Hopf and Bentley Allan

Why are some ideas more powerful than others? Where are they located and how are they structured? Ideas do not float freely. They are embedded in the everyday practices and institutions of international politics. This session will teach document selection and sampling strategies to map the structures of international discourse in these contexts.

7.2.1. Bentley Allan, “Ideas do not float freely: Discursive structures and discursive sites in international society.” Unpublished Manuscript: Ohio State University, n.d..
7.2.2. Marc Angenot, "Social Discourse Analysis: Outlines of a Research Project." Yale Journal of Criticism Vol. 17, No. 2, 2004: 199-215.
7.2.3. Srjdan Vucetic, “Genealogy as a research tool in International Relations.” Review of International Studies Vol. 37, 2011: 1295-1312.

3:45pm - 4:15pm Coffee Break.

4:15pm - 5:45pm Finding Practices

Ted Hopf and Bentley Allan

Description: The practice turn in interpretive theory presents unique methodological challenges because practices are embedded in taken-for-granted common sense. How are they to be uncovered? Via a critique of extant methods, we suggest some ways of conceptualizing and accessing “nothing.”

7.3.1. Jane K. Cowan, “Going out for Coffee?” In Peter Loizos and Evthymios Papataxiarchis, eds. Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, Chapter 8.
7.3.2. Ted Hopf, “Nothing Matters.” Unpublished Manuscript: Ohio State University, n.d..
7.3.3. Vincent Pouliot, International Practices: The Politics of NATO-Russia Diplomacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 11-44, 66-92, 95-140.

Monday, June 25 Module 8 Natural Experiments I - Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

8:45am - 10:15am Discovering Natural Experiments

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

What are natural experiments? We introduce the concept of natural experiments and discuss their strengths and limitations through a survey of recent examples from political science and economics.

8.1.1. Thad Dunning, “Design-Based Inference: Beyond the Pitfalls of Regression Analysis?.” In Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards, eds. Henry Brady and David Collier. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. (Book to purchase)
8.1.2. F. Daniel Hidalgo, Digital Democratization: Suffrage Expansion and the Decline of Political Machines in Brazil, 2012.
8.1.3. Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, “The Formation of Beliefs: Evidence from the Allocation of Land Titles to Squatters.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007: 209–241.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Analyzing Natural Experiments: Quantitative Methods

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

We discuss the role of statistical models in the analysis of natural experiments and provide an overview of quantitative techniques suitable for estimating causal effects. We emphasize the advantages of simplicity and transparency in the quantitative analysis of natural experiment

8.2.1. David A. Freedman, “Statistical Models for Causation: What Inferential Leverage Do They Provide?.” Evaluation Review 30(6), 2006: 691–713.
8.2.2. Allison J. Sovey and Donald P Green, “Instrumental Variables Estimation in Political Science: A Readers’ Guide.” American Journal of Political Science 55(1) 2011: 188–200.

Recommended:

8.2.3. Lakshmi Iyer, “Direct versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-Term Consequences.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 92(4) 2010: 693–713.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Analyzing Natural Experiments: Qualitative Methods

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

We highlight the essential role of qualitative methods in the analysis of natural experiments. We present examples that illustrate how qualitative evidence can bolster the credibility of causal assumptions and aid in the interpretation of quantitative results.

8.3.1. Thad Dunning, Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences: A Design-Based Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, chapter 7.
8.3.2. Daniel Posner, “The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi.” American Political Science Review 98(04), 2004.

Recommended:

8.3.3. Jason Lyall, “Does Indiscriminate Violence Incite Insurgent Attacks? Evidence from Chechnya.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 53(3) 2009: 331–362.

Monday, June 25 Module 9 Designing and Conducting Fieldwork: Preparing for and Operating in the Field - Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

Discussions in each session of this module will be conducted with the understanding that you have carefully read all of the assigned readings. During our sessions, we will not be lecturing in plenary on the readings but instead will be discussing concepts and ideas individually and in small and large groups, and practicing data-collection techniques. These discussions and activities will draw on the readings as well as our collective experiences in managing the diverse challenges fieldwork entails. Many of the readings are chapters from a book entitled Field Research in Political Science that the instructors are co-authoring (together with Ben Read, UC Santa Cruz). We are very interested in hearing your feedback on these pieces as we are currently revising the manuscript, and we will dedicate a small portion of each session to eliciting comments and critiques from you. We would appreciate it greatly if you would keep track of any recommendations and suggestions you have as you read the chapters!

8:45am - 10:15am Borders and Varieties of Fieldwork

Diana Kapiszewski, and Lauren M. MacLean

In this session we discuss our conception of fieldwork as a process that begins with the identification of a research question and continues with analysis and theory development in and out of the field. We consider various types of fieldwork and the different stages of a project at which it might occur, and address issues of ethics and power in the field.

9.1.1. Kapiszewski, MacLean, and Read (hereafter KMR). “History, Borders, and Varieties of Field Research in Political Science.” Chapter 1 in Field Research in Political Science (hereafter FRPS).
9.1.2. KMR. “Practices, Problems, and Promise of Field Research in Political Science.” Chapter 2 in FRPS.

Recommended

9.1.3. David Collier, “Data, Field Work and Extracting New Ideas at Close Range.” APSA – CP Newsletter 10(1) 1999: 1-6.
9.1.4. David Collier, David A. Freedman, James D. Fearon, David D. Laitin, John Gerring, Gary Goertz. 2008. “Symposium: Case Selection, Case Studies, and Causal Inference.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research 6(2): 2-16.
9.1.5. Soledad Loaeza, Randy Stevenson, and Devra C. Moehler. 2005. “Symposium: Should Everyone Do Fieldwork?” APSA-CP 16(2) 2005: 8-18.
9.1.6. Elisabeth Wood, “The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones.” Qualitative Sociology 29(3) 2006: 307-41.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Preparing for Fieldwork

Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

This session addresses pre-dissertation and other background research, logistical preparations for fieldwork, securing funding, networking in order to obtain contacts and interviews, negotiating institutional affiliation, and developing a data-collection plan.

9.2.1. KMR. “Preparing for Fieldwork.” Chapter 3 in FRPS.
9.2.2. Christopher B. Barrett and Jeffrey W. Cason, “Identifying a Site and Funding Source.” Chapter 2 in Overseas Research: A Practical Guide. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Recommended

9.2.3. Christopher B. Barrett and Jeffrey W. Cason. 1997. “Pre-departure Preparations.” Chapter 3 in Overseas Research: A Practical Guide. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Operating in the Field: Collecting Data, Managing People

Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

This session addresses the challenges of managing data and people in the field. We introduce a range of interactive and non-interactive data-collection techniques, and consider the trade-offs among them and how they can be combined. We discuss hiring and working with RAs and broader issues of cooperation and managing relationships in the field. Finally, we consider several non-conversational forms of data-collection.

9.3.1. KMR. “Operating in the Field: Managing Your Life, Research, and People.” Chapter 4 in FRPS.
9.3.2. Lee Ann Fuji, “Working with Interpreters.” In Layna Mosley, ed., Interview Research in Political Science. Under review.

Recommended

9.3.3. Melani Cammett, “Positionality and Sensitive Topics: Matched Proxy Interviewing as a Research Strategy.” In Layna Mosley, ed., Interview Research in Political Science. Under review.
9.3.4. Sheila Carapico, Janine A. Clark, Amaney Jamal, David Romano, Jilian Schwedler, and Mark Tessler. 2006. “The Methodologies of Field Research in the Middle East.” PS: Political Science and Politics XXXIX (3).
9.3.5. Elisabeth Wood, “Field Methods.” In Charles Boix and Susan Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. Oxford, 2007.

Monday, June 25 Module 10 Qualitative Comparative and Fuzzy Set Analysis I - Charles Ragin and Carsten Q. Schneider

8:45am - 10:15am Introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

Charles Ragin

The main focus of this session is the logic of QCA, especially its use as a tool for deciphering and unraveling causal complexity. There are four main types of QCA applications: small-to-medium-N versus large-N crossed with crisp set versus fuzzy set analysis. All the basic principles, including the concepts of set-theoretic consistency and coverage, are first elaborated using small-to-medium Ns and crisp sets.

10.1.1. Charles C. Ragin, Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. University of Chicago Press, 2008, chapters 1-3 (book to purchase).

Recommended

10.1.2. Benoit Rihoux and Gisele De Meur. Crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA), chapter 3 of Benoit Rihoux and Charles C. Ragin (eds.), Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Technique. Sage, 2009.

10.1.3. Charles C. Ragin, Boolean approach to qualitative comparison. Chapters 6 and 7 of The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. University of California Press, 1987.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Counterfactual Analysis: A Set Theoretic Approach

Charles Ragin and Carsten Q. Schneider

One of the key features of qualitative research is its reliance on counterfactual analysis. Surprisingly, most qualitative researchers are unaware that they conduct counterfactual analysis “on the fly,” and the analytic process remains hidden and implicit. With QCA, counterfactual analysis is made explicit in the form of the distinction between “easy” versus “difficult” counterfactual cases, and, partially orthogonal to that, tenable versus untenable counterfactuals. The examination of counterfactual analysis in QCA illustrates the theory and knowledge dependence of empirical social science.

10.2.1. Charles C. Ragin, Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. University of Chicago Press, 2008, chapters 6-9 (book to purchase)
10.2.2. Carsten Q. Schneider and Claudius Wagemann, Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2012 (forthcoming), chapter 8.

Recommended

10.2.3. Charles C. Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. University of California Press, 1987, chapter 7 (see 10.1.3)
10.2.4. Carsten Q. Schneider and Claudius Wagemann, Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2012 (forthcoming), chapter 6.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Fuzzy Sets, Fuzzy Set Calibration, and Fuzzy Set Analysis

Charles Ragin

Almost all cross-case information can be represented in terms of fuzzy sets. Unlike “variables,” fuzzy sets must be calibrated, and the calibration of fuzzy sets relies heavily on external knowledge, not on inductively derived statistics like means and standard deviations. This use of external knowledge provides the basis for a much tighter connection between theoretical concepts and empirical analysis. This session concludes with a demonstration of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis.

10.3.1. Charles C. Ragin, Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. University of Chicago Press, 2008, chapters 4, 5, 10, and 11. (book to purchase)

Recommended

10.3.2. Charles C. Ragin, Fuzzy Set Social Science. University of Chicago Press, 2000, chapters 6, 8, 9, and 11.

Tuesday, June 26 Module 8 Natural Experiments II - Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

8:45am - 10:15am Evaluating Natural Experiments

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

We critically assess natural-experimental research using an evaluative framework based on (1) the plausibility of as-if random assignment; (2) the credibility of causal and statistical assumptions; and (3) the substantive and theoretical relevance of the intervention. We emphasize the importance of quantitative and qualitative diagnostics and substantive knowledge for building successful natural-experimental designs.

11.1.1. Angus Deaton, “Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development.” Journal of Economic Literature 48(2) 2010: 424–455.
11.1.2. Jasjeet Sekhon and Rocío Titiunik, “When Natural Experiments Are Neither Natural nor Experiments.” American Political Science Review 106(1) 2012: 35–57.

Recommended:

11.1.3. Guido W. Imbens, “Better LATE Than Nothing: Some Comments on Deaton (2009) and Heckman and Urzua (2009).” Journal of Economic Literature 48(2) 2010: 399–423.
11.1.4. Devin Caughey and Jasjeet Sekhon, “Elections and the Regression Discontinuity Design: Lessons from Close U.S. House Races, 1942–2008.” Political Analysis 19(4) 2011: 385–408.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Design Your Own Natural Experiment

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

In this session, we give students the opportunity to design a natural experiment related to their own work and receive feedback from course participants.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Multi-Method Research and Natural Experiments

Thad Dunning and Daniel Hidalgo

We end the course by evaluating the promise and obstacles to the use of multi-method research in the analysis of natural experiments. Drawing upon the previous sessions and readings, we discuss how qualitative methods can help address some of the criticisms of natural experiments, as well as how natural experiments can bolster the inferences drawn from qualitative evidence.

Tuesday, June 26 Module 12 Designing and Conducting Fieldwork: Collecting and Analyzing Data - Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

8:45am - 10:15am Interactive Forms of Data Collection

Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

This session considers the challenges inherent in carrying out, and analytic upsides and downsides of, a series of interactive forms of data collection: participant observation, ethnography, surveys, and experiments.

12.1.1. Kapiszewski, MacLean, and Read (hereafter KMR). “Site-Intensive Methods: Participant Observation and Ethnography in Political Science Research.” Chapter 7 in Field Research in Political Science (hereafter FRPS).
12.1.2. KMR. “Surveys in the Context of Field Research.” Chapter 8 in FRPS.
12.1.3. KMR. “Experiments in the Field.” Chapter 9 in FRPS.

Recommended

12.1.4 Williams, Brackette F. 1996. “Skinfolk, Not Kinfolk: Comparative Reflections on the Identity of Participant Observation in Two Field Situations.” Chapter 3 in Diane Wolf, ed., Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
12.1.5. Pader, Ellen. 2006. “Seeing with an Ethnographic Sensibility: Explorations Beneath the Surface of Public Policies.” Chapter 8 in Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn. ME Sharpe.
12.1.6. Schaeffer, Nora Cate and Stanley Presser. 2003. “The Science of Asking Questions.” Annual Review of Sociology 29, 65-88.
12.1.7. Paluck, Elizabeth Levy. 2010. “The Promising Integration of Qualitative Methods and Field Experiments.” ANNALS, AAPSS, 628: 59-71.
12.1.8. Kubik, Jan. 2009. “Ethnography of Politics: Foundations, Applications, Prospects. In Schatz, ed., Political Ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
12.1.9. Brady, Henry E. 2000. “Contributions of Survey Research to Political Science.” PS: Political Science and Politics 33:1 (March) 47-7.
12.1.10. Sudman, Seymour and Norman M. Bradburn. 1982. Asking Questions: A Practical Guide to Questionnaire Design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Interviewing

Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

This session addresses interactive data-collection techniques that involve interviews of various sorts: one-on-one elite and non-elite interviewing, oral histories, and focus groups.

12.2.1. KMR. “Qualitative Interviewing in the Field: In-Depth Interviews, Focus Groups, and Oral Histories.” Chapter 6 in FRPS.
12.2.2. Beth Leech and Kenneth Goldstein contributions, “Symposium: Interview Methods in Political Science.” PS: Political Science and Politics 35(4) 2002: 663-672.
12.2.3. Joe Soss, “Talking Our Way to Meaningful Explanations: A Practice-Centered View of Interviewing for Interpretive Research.” Chapter 6 in Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, eds. Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn. ME Sharpe, 2006.

Recommended

12.2.4. Susan E. Short, Ellen Perecman, and Sara R. Curran, “Focus Groups.” Chapter 5 in Ellen Perecman and Sara Curran, eds. A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays & Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006.
12.2.5. Herbert Rubin and Irene Rubin, Qualitative Interviewing. The Art of Hearing Data, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005, Chapters 6-9.
12.2.6. Oisin Tansey, “Process Tracing and Elite Interviewing: A Case for Non-Probability Sampling.” PS: Political Science and Politics 40(4), 2007.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Analyzing Data, Assessing Progress, Thinking Theoretically

Diana Kapiszewski and Lauren M. MacLean

This session considers data organization, storing, and sharing; thinking analytically and beginning to analyze data while in the field, and different data analysis options; assessing progress; and beginning to write in the field and presenting initial findings to different audiences.

12.3.1. KMR. “Analyzing, Fixing, and Writing in the Field.” Chapter 10 in FRPS.
12.3.2. KMR. “The Future of Field Research in Political Science.” Chapter 11 in FRPS.
12.3.3. Robert Emerson, Rachel Fretz and Linda Shaw. “Processing Fieldnotes: Coding and Memoing.” Chapter 6 in Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Recommended

12.3.4. Gilbert Shapiro and John Markoff, “A Matter of Definition.” Chapter 1 in Carl Roberts, ed. Text Analysis for the Social Sciences: Methods for Drawing Statistical Inferences from Texts and Transcripts. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997.
12.3.5. Rose McDermott et al., Symposium, Data Collection and Collaboration. PS: Political Science and Politics 43(1): 15-58, 2010.

Tuesday, June 26 Module 13 Qualitative Comparative and Fuzzy Set Analysis II - Charles Ragin and Carsten Q. Schneider

8:45am - 10:15am Set-Theoretic Case Selection Principles

Carsten Q. Schneider

Set-theoretic methods and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in particular are case-based methods. This raises the questions of how to select cases for process tracing after deriving QCA results. We show that QCA’s reliance on set-relational causation in terms of necessity and sufficiency has important consequences for the choice of cases. Therefore, the general principles of regression-based case selection do not travel well to the results of set-theoretic analyses. Most importantly, apart from typical cases, there are multiple types of deviant cases, all conveying different analytic leverages. Also, some comparisons of these different types of cases are analytically meaningful, while other comparisons are not.

13.1.1. Carsten Q. Schneider and Ingo Rohlfing, Combining QCA and Process Tracing in Set-Theoretic Multi-Method Research, Sociological Methods and Research, 2012.

Recommended

13.1.2. Ingo Rohlfing and Carsten Q. Schneider, Formalized Case Selection for Process Tracing After QCA of Necessity. Political Research Quarterly, 2012.
13.1.3 Benoit Rihoux and Bojana Lobe. The Case of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Adding Leverage for Cross-Case Comparison. In The Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods, ed. Byrne, David and Charles C. Ragin, 222-42. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2009.
13.1.4 Gary Goertz, Case Studies, Causal Mechanisms and Selecting Cases (manuscript), 2012. (See 5.3.1)

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm The Evaluation of Theories Using Set-Theoretic Methods

Charles Ragin and Carsten Q. Schneider

Testing theories is the central concern of the bulk of quantitative social research. By contrast, the majority of qualitative research—and, within this group, QCA—are more inductive in spirit. Based on some initial hunches, guided by established knowledge and theoretical considerations, conditions are selected that are expected to be linked to the outcome of interest. After completing the analysis, the next task usually consists of finding a plausible interpretation of the solution formulas obtained, ideally backed up with further empirical evidence provided through other methods, for example, within-case analysis. Despite this emphasis on developing rather than testing hypothesis, it is possible to assess the extent to which the theoretical expectations formulated at the outset of the analysis intersect with the empirical results generated by the QCA.

13.2.1. Charles C. Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. University of California Press, 1987, pp. 118-121. (see 10.1.3)
13.2.2. Carsten Q. Schneider and Claudius Wagemann, Chapter 11.3 of Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Advanced Topics in Set-Theoretic Analysis

Charles Ragin and Carsten Q. Schneider

In this session we address several topics related to advanced applications of QCA: (1) the incorporation of time, (2) the use of “subset/superset” analysis, and (3) techniques of analytic induction. One of the trademarks of qualitative research is its careful treatment of different aspects of time. QCA, however, is typically applied to cross-sectional evidence. Various ways of incorporating the temporal dimension into QCA will be discussed. “Subset/superset analysis” can be used to dissect a user-specified causal recipe. It is more deductive in nature than QCA proper. “Analytic induction” refers to a type of analysis where the outcome does not vary substantially from one case to the next and thus can be viewed as present in all cases (i.e., as a constant). While it is impossible to analyze a “dependent variable that does not vary” with correlational methods, with set theoretical methods it is possible to study cases that all exhibit the same outcome.

13.3.1. Neal Caren and Aaron Panofsky, TQCA. A technique for adding temporality to Qualitative Comparative Analysis.” Sociological Methods and Research 34: 147-172, 2005.
13.3.2. Charles C. Ragin and Sarah I. Strand. 2008. “Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis to study causal order. Comment on Caren and Panofsky (2005).” Sociological Methods and Research 36: 431-441
13.3.3. Carsten Q. Schneider and Claudius Wagemann. 2012 (forthcoming). Chapter 10.3 of Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press

Wednesday, June 27 Module 14 Qualitative and Quantitative I - Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

8:45am - 10:15am Multi-Method Research: Goals, Standards, and Orienting Perspectives

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

What is multi-method research? The term has become a widely used slogan in the social sciences, but scholars often disagree about the reality to which the term is intended to refer. We will discuss divergent ideas of multi-method research and offer a perspective that grounds multi-method research in the potential-outcomes framework for thinking about causal inference.

14.1.1. Evan Lieberman, “Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research,” American Political Science Review (August 2005), 99, 3: 435-52.
14.1.2. David Collier, Henry E. Brady and Jason Seawright, Sources of Leverage in Causal Inference: Toward an Alternative View of Methodology, in Brady and Collier, eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry, 2nd Edition, 161-200 (book to purchase).
14.1.3. Jason Seawright, The Potential Outcomes Framework as a Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Causal Inference, 2012.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Process Tracing and Multi-Method Research

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

Process tracing is regarded as one of the central tools that case-study research can contribute to multi-method causal inference. We present current research regarding process tracing, with a special eye to the aspects of these tools that can play a major role in multi-method work. We emphasize that process tracing is a research practice that only makes sense when embedded in a larger network of accepted causal propositions, serving to test one or a few linkages conditional on the plausibility of all the rest.

14.2.1. Sherry Zaks, “Relationships Among Rivals: Contending Hypotheses and the Logic of Process Tracing.” Working Paper, 2012. (See U-8-2)
14.2.2. James Mahoney, “After KKV: The New Methodology of Qualitative Research.” World Politics 62(1) (2010): 120–47. See U.1.2.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Causal Inference in Statistics, Case Studies, and QCA

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

Is there a gold standard for causal inference in observational studies? We review the assumptions needed to produce causal conclusions from observational data in three major methodological traditions: regression-type models, case studies, and QCA. Each tradition depends centrally on often untested assumptions; however, making such assumptions explicit allows the multi-method researcher to combine tools so as to reduce (although not eliminate) inferential uncertainties.

14.3.1. Jason Seawright, “Regression-Based Inference: A Case Study in Failed Causal Assessment,” in Brady and Collier, eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry, 2nd Edition, 2010. (book to purchase)
14.3.2. David Freedman, "On Types of Scientific Inquiry: The Role of Qualitative Reasoning." In Brady and Collier, eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry, 2nd Edition, 2010. (book to purchase)
14.3.3. John Gerring, ed., “Symposium: Perfecting Methodology, or Methodological Perfectionism? [A “modest defense” of quantitative methods.] In Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section (forthcoming Spring 2011).
14.3.4. QCA: Overview of QCA + Symposium

Benoit Rihoux, Case-Oriented Configurational Research: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Fuzzy Sets, and Related Techniques. In The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology, 2008, Chapter 31.
Jason Seawright, Qualitative Comparative Analysis vis-à-vis Regression. Studies in Comparative International Development. 40(1), 2005.
ChristopherAchen, Two Cheers for Charles Ragin. Studies in Comparative International Development. 40(1), 2005.
Charles Ragin, Core versus Tangential Assumptions in Comparative Research. Studies in Comparative International Development. 40(1), 2005.
Jason Seawright, Assumptions, Causal Inference, and the Goals of QCA. Studies in Comparative International Development. 40(1), 2005.

Wednesday, June 27 Module 15 Political Ethnography I - Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

How does immersion of the researcher in the research world contribute to the study of power? What are the promises, and perils, of social research that invites the unruly minutiae of lived experience to converse with, and contest, abstract disciplinary theories and categories? In this practice-intensive module, we explore ethnographic fieldwork methods with specific attention to their potential to subvert, generate, and extend understandings of politics and power. Participants will have the opportunity to conduct full-day ethnographic fieldwork projects in Syracuse.

8:45am - 10:15am Ethnography and Interpretation

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

This session explores the promises and pitfalls of ethnographic approaches to the political.

15.1.1. Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” in The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (Basic Books, 1973), pp. 3-30. (See U.5.1)
15.1.2. Bent Flyvbjerg, “The Power of Example,” in Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again (Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 66-87.
15.1.3. Edward Schatz, “Ethnographic Immersion and the Study of Politics,” and “What Kind(s) of Ethnography does Political Science Need? In Edward Schatz, ed., Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power (University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 1-22 and 303-318.
15.1.4. Timothy Pachirat, "The Political in Political Ethnography: Dispatches from the Kill Floor," in Edward Schatz, ed., Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power (University of Chicago Press), pp. 143-162.

Recommended:

15.1.5. Dvora Yanow, “Thinking interpretively : philosophical presuppositions and the human sciences,” in Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Method and the Interpretive Turn (M.E. Sharpe, 2006), pp. 5-26.
15.1.6. Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, “Judging quality : evaluative criteria and epidemic communities” in Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Method and the Interpretive Turn (M.E. Sharpe, 2006), pp. 89-113.
15.1.7. Edward W. Said, “Representing the Colonized: Anthropology's Interlocutors,” Critical Inquiry, v. 15 n. 2 (Winter 1989), pp. 202-225.
15.1.8. Jan Kubik, “Ethnography of Politics: Foundations, Applications, Prospects,” in Schatz, Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power (University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 25-52.
15.1.9. David Laitin, “The Perestroikan Challenge to Social Science”, Politics & Society v. 31 (2003), 163-184.
15.1.10. James Clifford, “On Ethnographic Authority,” Representations v. 2 (1983), pp. 118-146.
15.1.11. Michael Burawoy, “The Extended Case Method” [30 pages] *
15.1.12. Lisa Wedeen, “Ethnography as Interpretive Enterprise,” in Edward Schatz, ed., Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power (University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 75-94.
15.1.13. Lisa Wedeen, "Reflections on Ethnographic Fieldwork in Political Science" Annual Review of Political Science, v. 13 (2010), pp. 255-272.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 1:30pm Lunch.

1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Ethics and Praxis in Fieldwork

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

An exploration of the practice of fieldwork, with special emphasis on jottings, fieldnote writing, and the ethics of fieldwork.

15.2.1. Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (University of Chicago, 1995), chapters 1 - 5, pp. 1 - 141.

Recommended:

15.2.2. Timothy Pachirat, Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight (Yale University Press, 2011).
15.2.3. Timothy Pachirat, “Shouts and Murmurs: The Ethnographer’s Potion” in Qualitative and Multi-Method Research v. 7 n. 2 (Fall 2009), 41-44.
15.2.4. Dvora Yanow, “Dear Author/Dear Reader: The Third Hermeneutic in Writing and Reviewing Ethnography,” in Edward Schatz, Political Ethnography: What Immersion Contributes to the Study of Power (University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 275-302.
15.2.5. Kathleen Blee, "Crossing a Boundary" in Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement (University of California Press, 2002).
15.2.6. Laud Humphreys, "Postscript: A Question of Ethics," in Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places (Aldine Transaction, 1970).
15.2.7. Martha Huggins, "Deposing Atrocity and Managing Secrecy," in Violence Workers (University of California Press, 2002), pp. 45-62.

2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Fieldwork Exercises

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

In small groups, students will conduct participant-observation exercises in pre-selected fieldsites focusing on the question of how power is at work in their site.

4:30 - 6:30 Fieldnote Writing

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

Students will use this time to write up a set of fieldnotes based on jottings taken in their fieldsites.

7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Brownbag Dinner Debrief

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

Debriefing of fieldwork exercises and fieldnote writing over brownbag dinner.

Wednesday, June 27 Module 16 Computer Assisted Content Analysis I - Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

8:45am - 10:15am Categories and Content Analysis

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

In the first session we investigate dictionary-based content analysis in old and new style. We focus on identifying the assumptions of these widely used measurement models, learning how to use the results effectively in subsequent analyses, validating, and maybe even correcting them.

16.1.1. M. Laver, J. Garry, Estimating policy positions from political texts. American Journal of Political Science, 44(3) (2000):619–634.
16.1.2. J. Bara, A. Weale, and A. Biquelet, Analysing parliamentary debate with computer assistance. Swiss Political Science Review, 13(4) (2007):577-605.

Optional

16.1.3. D. Hopkins and G. King, G. A method of automated nonparametric content analysis for social science, American Journal of Political Science, 54(1) (2010): 229-247
16.1.4. K. Krippendorf, Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Sage, 1980.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Practical I: Dictionary-based Content Analysis

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

We present open source text analysis tools for dictionary-based content analysis and replicate several studies using various text sources (e.g. parliamentary speeches, media reports). Students should bring a laptop to the course.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Topics and Classification

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

Classification methods automate the assignment of texts to categories in a content typology without the need to construct a dictionary. Topic models move one step further by simultaneously assigning texts to categories and estimating the content typology itself. This session considers applications of both approaches and considers their advantages and limitations for social scientific research.

16.3.1. W. McIntosh, M. Evans, J. Lin, and C. Cates,Recounting the courts? applying automated content analysis to enhance empirical legal research. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 4(4) (2007):1041– 1057.
16.3.2. D. Hillard, S. J. Purpura, and S. Wilkerson, Computer assisted topic classification for mixed methods social science research. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 4(4) (2008):31-46

Thursday, June 28 Module 17 Qualitative and Quantitative II - Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

8:45am - 10:15am Can Case Studies Overturn a Regression?

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

Much discussion of case study methods has assumed that they play a secondary role vis-à-vis regression in multi-method research. Yet case studies can make a wide range of independent contributions to causal inference. Key categories include validating and improving measurement, searching for omitted variables, and testing hypotheses about causal paths. We present a methodological case for the possibility of these contributions, and illustrate them using an example drawn from an extended debate about the origins of electoral rules.

17.1.1. John Gerring, What Is a Case Study and What is it Good For? American Political Science Review 98(2) (May 2004): 341-354.
17.1.2. Carles Boix, “Setting the Rules of the Game: The Choice of Electoral Systems in Advanced Democracies.” American Political Science Review 93 (3) (1999): 609–24
17.1.3. Thomas Cusack, Torben Iversen, and David Soskice. 2007. “Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems.” American Political Science Review 101 (3) (2007): 373–91.
17.1.4. Marcus Kreuzer, Historical Knowledge and Quantitative Analysis: The Case of the Origins of Proportional Representation. American Political Science Review. 104(2) (2010) and responses from Boix and Cusack et. al.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Matching, Natural Experiments, Randomized Experiments

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

If case studies are to play an important role in dialogue with regression-type analyses, scholars need tools for selecting or situating their cases with respect to a sample or population. We discuss tools for purposive case selection, showing which case-selection technique is best for each of a catalogue of common case-study goals.

17.2.1. Levy Paluck, “The Promising Integration of Qualitative Methods and Field Experiments,” Annals of the American Academy of Politics and Social Sciences (March 2010 628 (1): 59-71.
17.2.2. Hidalgo and Richardson, A Perfect Match? Verifying Statistical Assumptions with Case Knowledge. Working paper.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Case Selection Using Quantitative Data

Jason Seawright and Sherry Zaks

Regression-type models are only one component in the contemporary quantitative toolkit. We discuss integrating case-study evidence and analysis with techniques that have entered the social sciences more recently: matching, natural experiments, and randomized experiments. In all three domains, multi-method work can achieve important advantages for causal inference.

17.3.1. Jason Seawright and John Gerring, “Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research,” Political Research Quarterly 61:2 (2008), pp. 294-308.
17.3.2. David Collier, “Symposium: Case Selection, Case Studies, and Causal Inference.” Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 6, No. 2 (Fall 2008): 2–16. Lead article by David A. Freedman, responses by James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin, John Gerring, and Gary Goertz, and a concluding response by Freedman.

Thursday, June 28 Module 18 Political Ethnography II - Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

8:45am - 10:15am Ordinary Language Interviewing Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

Ordinary language interviewing is a tool for uncovering the meaning of words in everyday talk. By studying the meaning of words (in English or other languages), the promise is to gain insight into the various social realities these words name, evoke, or realize. This session covers some basic questions about ordinary language interviewing: what it is, what can be discovered through it, and how to actually do it.

18.1.1. Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books (New York: Harper, 1965): 17-20 [4 pages].
18.1.2. Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, Wittgenstein and Justice: On the Significance of Ludwig Wittgenstein for Social and Political Thought (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972): 274-79 [5 pages].
18.1.3. Frederic Charles Schaffer, Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998): ix-xii, 54-85 [36 pages].

Recommended

18.1.4. James P. Spradley, The Ethnographic Interview (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979): 3-39.
18.1.5. Frederic Charles Schaffer, “Ordinary Language Interviewing.” In Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn edited by Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006): 150-60.
18.1.6. Frederic Charles Schaffer, “Thin Descriptions: The Limits of Survey Research on the Meaning of Democracy.” Committee on Concepts and Methods Working Paper 45, November 2010.
18.1.7. Joe Soss, “Talking Our Way to Meaningful Explanations: A Practice-Centered View of Interviewing for Interpretive Research.” In Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn edited by Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006): 127-49. (see 12.2.3)
18.1.8. Lee Ann Fujii, “Shades of Truth and Lies: Interpreting Testimonies of War and Violence.” Journal of Peace Research 47, 2 (2010): 231-41.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm – 1:30pm Lunch.

1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Fieldsite Interviews and Write-up

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

Students will return to their fieldsites to conduct ordinary language interviews. They will then write-up their main findings.

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Interview Debriefing and “Accessing Meaning” Discussion

Timothy Pachirat and Fred Schaffer

This session will be divided into two parts. First, we will discuss the challenges students encountered in conducting ordinary language interviews and writing up results. Second, we will reflect together on the following questions:To what extent does the method one adopts shape what one apprehends? Specifically, do we learn something different when we access meaning by means of (relatively unstructured) ethnographic immersion as opposed to (relatively structured) ordinary language interviewing?

Thursday, June 28 Module 19 Computer Assisted Content Analysis II - Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

8:45am - 10:15am Practical II: Introduction to R and Document Classification

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

During this exercise session, we present open source text analysis tools for supervised automated classification and topic models

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:30pm Research Design Discussion Sessions (not part of Module).

12: 30pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Positions

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

Scaling models try to estimate actors' positions on policy, or on any other interesting dimension, on the basis of differential word usage. We concentrate on understanding their assumptions about language to discover when they can usefully be applied. And then we apply them.

19.2.1. M. Laver, K. Benoit, and J. Garry, Extracting Policy Positions from Political Texts Using Words as Data. American Political Science Review 97(2) 2003: 311-332.
19.2.2. S.-O. Proksch and J.B. Slapin, Position taking in European Parliament speeches. British Journal of Political Science, 2009.

Optional

19.2.3. W. Lowe, K. Benoit, S. Mikhaylov, and M. Laver, Scaling policy positions from coded units of political texts. Legislative Studies Quarterly 36(1) 2011:123-155
19.2.4. J. Slapin and S-O Proksch, A Scaling Model for Estimating Time-Series Party Positions from Texts. American Journal of Political Science 52(3) 2008: 705-722.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Practical III: Extracting Positions from Texts

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

During this exercise session, we present open source text analysis tools for extracting policy positions from political texts (such as speeches and election manifestos).

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm – 5:30pm Content Analysis and Research Design

Will Lowe and Sven-Oliver Proksch

In this session we discuss the strengths and limitations of each method with an eye to how content analyses can be best integrated into your research designs.

Friday, June 29 Module 20 Historiography, Interviews and Archival Research - James Goldgeier, Andrew Moravcsik, and Elizabeth Saunders

Textual and Interview Research with Primary Sources: What Do You Need to Know, How Do You Know Where to Look, and How Do you Get What you Need? In this module, we will discuss how political scientists decide they need to use primary textual records of policy-making—archives, interviews, and published primary sources—in their research. This includes how one prepares for, structures, conducts, and manages the information flow from archival visits, interviews or structured examination of published materials. We focus on practical research skills scholars can use, and judgments they must make in everyday research.

8:45am - 10:15am Selecting and Preparing Various Types of Secondary, Primary, and Interview Research

James Goldgeier, Andrew Moravcsik, and Elizabeth Saunders

Thissession highlights the practical trade-offs between different types of textual and interview research and the ways in which one must prepare for them. It focuses on issues to think about before you start your research.

20.1.1. Fred I. Greenstein and Richard H. Immerman, "What Did Eisenhower Tell Kennedy About Indochina? The Politics of Misperception," Journal of American History, v. 79, no. 2 (September 1992).

20.1.2. Cameron Thies, "A Pragmatic Guide to Qualitative Historical Analysis in the Study of International Relations," International Studies Perspectives 3(4) (November 2002) 351-372.

20.1.3. Ian Lustick, "History, Historiography, and Political Science: Multiple Historical Records and the Problem of Selection Bias," American Political Science Review (September 1996): 605-618.

20.1.4. Marc Trachtenberg, Marc, The Craft of International History, Appendix I and Appendix II.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:15pm Structuring Your Data Collection: Making Sure You Can Find What You Need…and You can Find it Again When You Need It

James Goldgeier, Andrew Moravcsik,  and Elizabeth Saunders  This session will address concerns that arise during your research.  We will talk about different types of repositories, briefly explain how to use the Freedom of Information Act, and strategies for maximizing the output of interviews. We will discuss hands-on electronic strategies for structuring, organizing, and storing your oral and documentary data so that you can easily and systematically access it as you move to the analysis and writing phase of your project.  The process of structuring your data begins before you leave for the archives, and informs how you conduct your research in the archives and your analysis of documents when you get home.

12: 15pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm - 3:30pm Historical Research: Using What You Find

James Goldgeier, Andrew Moravcsik, and Elizabeth Saunders

This session focuses on analyzing your data after you gather it. In addition to discussing the uses of historical research for building theoretical arguments, we will discuss how different scholars can read documents differently, and also how documents can be used in thinking about counterfactuals. We will also introduce students to the emerging debate about practical research standards for transparency and replicability of qualitative work: active citations, data archiving, etc.

20.3.1. Andrew Moravcsik, “Active Citation: A Precondition for Replicable Qualitative Research,” PS 43, 1 (2010): 29-35.
20.3.2. Colin Elman, Diana Kapiszewski, and Lorena Vinuela. “Qualitative Data Archiving: Rewards and Challenges,” PS 43, 1 (2010): 23-27.

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00pm - 5:30pm IQMR Conclusion (Unified session)

Friday, June 29 Module 21 Qualitative Data Analysis - Margaret Hermann and Paloma Raggo

8:45am - 10:15am Building Your Own Qualitative Data Management System Using Altas.TI: A Manual Approach to the Analysis of Qualitative Data

Paloma Raggo

You collected your data, now what? While qualitative data offers rich and contextualized evidence, its management and analysis can lead to great inefficiencies in terms of resource management, data usage, and general research costs. This is especially true for scholars working across countries, aiming for larger sample sizes, relying on extensive sets of interviews or analyzing archival data. The goal of this session is to introduce IQMR participants to qualitative data analysis softwares such as NVivo or Atlas.Ti and to discuss data management and analysis strategies for scholars across the epistemological spectrum. Data management strategies are a crucial yet under-discussed aspect of qualitative research.

21.1.1. Sylvain Bourdon, The Integration of Qualitative Data Analysis Software in Research Strategies: Resistances and Possibilities. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 3, (May 2002).
21.1.2. Philipp Mayring, Qualitative Content Analysis. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, North America, 1, jun. 2000.
21.1.3. Karen S. Kurasaki, Intercoder Reliability for Validating Conclusions Drawn from Open-Ended Interview Data. Field Methods. August 2000 12: 179-194.

10:15am - 10:45am Coffee Break.

10:45am - 12:15pm 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Using Verbal Materials to Assess What Policymakers Are Like: Computer-Assisted Assessment-at-a-Distance Techniques

Margaret G. Hermann

You have completed interviews with a set of party leaders, a number of CEOs of transnational non-governmental organizations, or the heads of multi-national corporations. You have collected press conference transcripts and speeches of the prime ministers of France across the past several decades or those leading Pacific Rim countries. You have the video-tapes, writings, and pronouncements of leaders of a number of terrorist organizations or of a select few such leaders across different situations. Computer-assisted assessment-at-a-distance techniques have evolved to provide scholars with ways of examining such documents to learn more about leaders—to explore how they process information, their beliefs, what motivates them, the ways in which they will frame the problems they face, their likely approaches to leadership, and how they will deal with stress. This session will introduce participants to several software programs that can aid in learning more about the people involved in policymaking and provide an introduction to what is possible using the Profiler Plus platform.

21.2.1. Margaret G. Hermann, “Content Analysis” in Qualitative Methods in International Relations: A Pluralist Guide, edited by Audie Klotz and Deepa Prakash. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 151-167.
21.2.2. Stephen B. Dyson, Personality and Foreign Policy: Tony Blair’s Iraq Decisions. Foreign Policy Analysis 2006, 2: 289-306.
21.2.3. Hermann, Margaret G. and Azamat Sakiev. Leaders, Terrorism, and the Use of Violence. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 2011, 4: 126-134.

12: 15pm - 2:00pm Lunch.

2:00pm-3:30pm: Hands-On with Atlas Ti and Profiler Plus

Paloma Raggo and Margaret G. Hermann

3:30pm - 4:00pm Coffee Break.

4:00 – 5:30pm IQMR Conclusion (Unified session)