week 3: causal mechanisms and concepts

concepts

are “building blocks” of all science

• there is no theory without concepts and no description without concepts and no explanation without concepts

• we cant explain something unless we know what is is

conceptualization

defining something

operationalization

identifying how we will know it when we see it

• develop a set of indicators or measures to categorize and classify what matches the concept and what doesnt

• what would count as evidence

democratic backsliding

the state led debilitation or elimination of the political institutions that sustain an existing democracy

in this question, what needs conceptualization: why are young people under represented in parliament?

young people and under represented

validity

whether operationalization reflect the concept the researcher seeks to measure

what 4 problems in poli sci research can be addressed through renewed attention to measurement validity

1. the challenge of establishing shared standards for quantitative and qualitative scholars

2. a second problem concerns the relation between measurement validity and disputes about the meaning of concepts

3. third concerns the contextual specificity of measurement validity— arises when a measure that is valid in one context is invalid in another

4. fourth problem concerns the frequently confusing language used to discuss alternative procedures for measurement validations

tasks for measurement validity

1. background concept

2. conceptualization

3. systemized concept

   1. formulation of a concept used by a scholar → involves explicit definition

4. operationalization

   1. developing on the basis of a systematized concept, one or more indicators for scoring/classifying cases

5. indicators (measures, operationalizations)

6. scoring cases

   1. applying these indicators to produce scores for the cases being analyzed

random error occurs when

repeated applications of a given measurement procedure yield inconsistent results, is conventionally labeleed a problem of reliability

3 step reserach process

• Conceptualization: defining abstract ideas or constructs. For example, defining what "poverty" or "alienation" actually means in theory.

• Operationalization: the process of descending from the abstract level to the empirical level by spelling out the exact operations, indicators, or procedures used to observe and test the concept.

• Measurement: The final step where numbers, numerals, or labels are attached to the variable's specific attributes or levels (such as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio categories) so data can be analyzed.

identifying causal relationships require

1. theory that identify causal mechanisms

2. research design that allows for rigorous testing of those mechanisms

confounding variable

a third factor that causes both presumed cause and presumed effect

must be related to both variables

correlation

two features are related. when one changes, the other also changes

identifying a causal relationship requires

making comparisons between what we observe in the world and what is fundamentally unobservable

causal mechanism

identifying how one variable has an effect on another

• causal mechanisms are not variables. they tell you how x causes y

quantiative vs qualititative in causal mechanisms

• quantitative → difficult inevestigating causal mechanism

• qualitative → investigates causal mechanism and the process through which precarious employment can lead to far right voting

qualitative researchers have tools for investigating

• comparative case studies

• process tracing

• interviews, observation

comparative case studies

detailed examination of cases to see where and how causal mechanisms operate

process tracing

reconstruct the sequence of events leading from hypothesized cause and outcome