poli 397 review + week 2 iv dv unit analysis

steps in the research process

• methods

• collect data

• analysis

• write up findings

how to prove why your research matters

• research question must be theoretically and practically important

• how will answering your question make a difference in the world (practical importance)

• how wil lanswering your question contribute to. knowledge (theoretical importance)

what does theory tell you to do

theories tell you where to look for the cause of the phenomenon youre exploring

if variables are positively related, they

move in the same direction

power resource theory

welfare states expand when working class have more political power

political culture

generous welfare states emerge in countries where citizens value collective welfare over individualism and support redistribution and government programs to help the poor

hypothesis

derived form a theory and predicts some kind of relationship among variables

variable

• some observable feature of the world that varies

  • it can have different values across your cases

  • dv = outcome, iv = cause

unit of analysis

the thing were hypothesizing about; the thing thats doing the varying

observable implications

Empirical patterns expected if the hypothesis is true.

falsifiers

Evidence expected if the hypothesis is false.

counter example

A single/rare exception (e.g., a young Bill Gates or Michael Phelps) — does NOT falsify a probabilistic hypothesis.

partial falsification

Relationship holds only up to a point (e.g., income rises with age until retirement, then falls).

what is a theory

potential answer to a research question and why the proposed answer is correct

4 parts of a theory

1. expectations/prediction

2. causal mechanism

3. assumption

4. scope conditions

expectation/prediction

the short form of the answer to the research question

causal mechanism

a chain of steps and series of links of how changes in the cause variable affect the outcome variable

assumption

claims and beliefs about how the world works

scope conditions

limits of a theory—they explain when, where, and for what types of cases the theory is expected to apply.

how do we generate theories

through inductive or deductive theorizing

inductive

potential explanation emerging from a study of specific cases then generalized outward from there

deductive

potential explanations emerge from abstract analysis outside of the context of any specific case