Comparative Methods Midterm

Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics is a soft science

True

The scientific method in social sciences allows us to

distinguish between actions and decisions that happen systematically from actions and decisions that happen randomly

Falsifiability is a concept in science that stipulates that

Research should have a possibility of proven wrong

A hypothesis must include

Units of analysis, independent variable, dependent variable

Quantitative methods include single-case studies

False

Single-case study

A research method that involves a detailed examination of a single case or a small group of people

A causes B relationship tyle

Casual relationship

A and B are related though we can’t conclude which one is the casual variable

Correlation

A is mistakenly thought to cause B, while in reality C causes B

Spurious relationship

Hungary and Romania are neighboring European counties that both transitioned from a one party socialist rule in 1989 to a parliamentery form of government. Romania is a free democracy while Hungary has backslid into authoritarianism and is only partly free.

Most similar system design

Most similar system design

Choosing counties that are very similar in the independent variable but have different outcomes

Most different system design

Different in every aspect but have the same outcome

Example of most similar system design

Columbia and Venezuela

Example of most different system design

US and India