Description
From action research to validity, this innovative and informative text is an invaluable guide to a variety of core research concepts in both political science and international relations.
Key Features:
- Each entry is consistently structured, providing: a clear definition, a focused explanation, a summary of current debates and areas of research, further reading, and references to other related concepts.
- Explains how and why particular research methods are used and highlights alternative research concepts and strategies.
- Cross-relates entries, enabling you to dip in to topics and follow threads throughout the book.
- Packed with illuminating examples to help you to apply theory to the 'real world' of political analysis.
An essential companion for students of Politics and International Relations at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Review
This book provides a clear, balanced and accessible introduction to a broad range of methodological concepts and techniques. Research methods can be a challenging area of study for undergraduate students, and this text will be an indispensable guide for students of Politics and International Relations at different stages of their degree.
Fidelma Ashe
Senior Lecturer in Politics, the University of Ulster
Lisa Harrison and Theresa Callan have succeeded in doing what few authors have hitherto managed! They have written a robust introductory text on research methods in the field of Politics and IR which is both clear and accessible and covers all bases succinctly. This book will be a tremendous resource for undergraduates in the field.
Dr Nicholas Startin
Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath
Table of Contents
Indroduction Action Research Autobiography/Biography Research Behaviourialism Case Studies Causality and Correlations Comparative Method Concepts Content Analysis Deduction/Induction Discourse Analysis Documentary Analysis Ecological Fallacy Empirical Analysis Epistemology Ethics Ethnography and Ethnomethodology Evidence-based Policy Making (EBPM) Feminism/Feminist Methodologies Focus Groups Hypothesis-Testing and Inference Interviewing Levels of Measurement Methods Methodology Narratives Observation Official Data Ontology Paradigm Positivism Post-postivism Presenting Quantitative Analysis Primary Sources Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Rational-Choice Realism Reliability Sampling Secondary Analysis Survey Design Theory Triangulation Validity Variables Index
