POLI 110 Week 1-2 study guide

Experts & Authorities

Convenient, but may be biased or unreliable.

Personal Experience & Common Sense

Intuitive but prone to cognitive bias and error.

Media & Popular Messages

Driven by attention; often misleading or oversimplified.

Ideological Beliefs & Values

Can distort or suppress scientific knowledge.

Overgeneralization

Assuming personal experience applies to all cases.

Selective Observation

Only noticing info that supports your beliefs.

Premature Closure

Accepting answers too quickly.

Halo Effect

Credibility based on reputation, not merit.

False Consensus

Assuming others share your views.

Attention Economy

Drives media to be sensational, clickbait-driven.

Confirmation Bias

Media reinforces existing beliefs, narrows perspectives.

Disinformation Types

Satire, false connection, misleading, false context, imposter, manipulated, fabricated.

Conspiracy Theories

Claims major events are due to secret plots; reject science.

Science

Systematic, evidence-based knowledge production.

Political Science

Studies human behavior, institutions, using scientific methods.

Theories

Logically consistent, not opinion-based.

Empirical Data

Observable, measurable evidence.

Scientific Norms

Universalism, skepticism, disinterestedness, communalism, honesty.

Empiricism

Knowledge from observation.

Determinism

Events have causes.

Objectivity

Bias should be minimized.

Replication

Results must be testable and repeatable.

Measurement Issues

Some things are hard to quantify.

Subjectivity

Total objectivity is impossible.

Unreliable Responses

People may misreport or lie.

Interpretivism

Focuses on meaning and context.

Normative Research

Studies what ought to be.

Indigenous Methods

Centers traditional knowledge, responds to colonial misuse.

Intuition

Fast, emotional, habitual thinking.

Scientific Thinking

Logic + empirical rules.

Induction

Observe → Generalize.

Deduction

Theory → Predict specific outcome.

Epistemology

What counts as knowledge?

Ontology

What is reality?

David Hume

Problem of induction: past doesn’t guarantee future.

Karl Popper

Science = falsifiable theories, not just confirmations.

Paul Feyerabend

Science progresses by breaking rules.

Thomas Kuhn

Science = revolutions + paradigm shifts.

Relativism

Reality is socially constructed and interpreted.

Descriptive Questions

What does the world look like?

Causal Questions

Why does the world look like that?

Prescriptive Questions

What should the world look like?

Good Research Questions

Precise, falsifiable, testable, clear scope, empirical, relevant.

Arguments in Political Science

Abstract complex reality, test ideas, build understanding.

Descriptive Arguments

Describe political phenomena.

Descriptive Subtypes

Indicators, syntheses, typologies, associations.

Causal Arguments

X (cause) → Y (outcome).

Conditions for Causality

Causal mechanism, time order, correlation, no confounders.

X-Centered Questions

What is the effect of X on Y?

Y-Centered Questions

What explains outcome Y?

Deterministic Argument

If X, then always Y.

Probabilistic Argument

If X, then Y is more likely.

Sufficient Condition

X alone causes Y.

Necessary Condition

Y can’t happen without X.

Both Sufficient & Necessary

X is required and enough for Y.

Explanation

Understand why Y happens.

Prediction

Forecast Y, even if X doesn’t cause it.