1 / 13

How to get started: Research Questions

Epistemology and Methods Getting Started: Research Questions, Puzzles and Case-Study Methods April 15 2008. How to get started: Research Questions. Choosing a Research Topic KKV approach Choose a hypothesis seen as important in the literature, but where a systematic study lacks

hayes-padilla
Download Presentation

How to get started: Research Questions

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Epistemology and MethodsGetting Started: Research Questions, Puzzles and Case-Study MethodsApril 15 2008

  2. How to get started: Research Questions Choosing a Research Topic • KKV approach • Choose a hypothesis seen as important in the literature, but where a systematic study lacks • Choose a hypothesis, we suspect is false and investigate this.. • Provide (“resolve”) further evidence in an ongoing debate • Design research to illuminate unquestioned assumptions in the literature • Or a topic has been overlooked (KKV, 16-17)

  3. How to get started: Research Questions There is no methodological or instrumental way to search for a research topic (Geddes, chapter 2) • KKV+ (Emotions at this stage are important…) • Curiosity, fascination, intuition, irritation, obsession… • “why some event or process has happened” • Creativity: “Good scholarship arises from the interaction of observation and conjecture” • “Students cannot develop an autonomous reaction to the world by constantly worrying about what others think. They must worry about what they think themselves, and make sure they think something…”

  4. How to get started: Research Questions • Finding “holes”: When one reads an argument, finds it implausible, and believes that one can provide evidence to demonstrate that it is wrong…” • Precondition: Factual knowledge, theoretical knowledge (and various kinds of models) • A model as a simplified representation of a process (e.g. collective action problem, evolutionary selection) • Big, romantic, non-testable ideas …should be broken up into their component processes and then theorizing these processes one at a time (example “transitions from authoritarianism”)

  5. The Puzzle-driven Approach • One approach: searching for a puzzle (Zinnes) • “What puzzles you?” • “pieces of information, the belief that the pieces fit together into a meaningful picture – but the inability to fit the pieces together initially” • Can you think of a puzzle?

  6. The Puzzle-driven Approach • Example: Functional argument for delegating power to IOs (from Principal-Agent Literature) • -Lack of international standing • -Overlap of interests between P and A • Empirical observation in WTO negotiations… • “Puzzle” of Missing Delegation

  7. Designing Case Study Research (George&Bennett) • Theory testing and/or theory development • Framing the research problem (puzzle) • “You need to make a case that you make a (significant) contribution” • What are the needs of the “research program”? • Need for testing, identifying limits, new variables, different levels of analysis, move up or down the ladder of generality (e.g. “democratic peace”)

  8. Designing Case Study Research (George&Bennett) Theory-building research objectives (Lijphart, Eckstein): • Descriptive case studies • Heuristic case studies (induction to find new variables, hypotheses, causal mechanisms), outlier cases might be useful • Plausibility probes (preliminary studies on untested theories/hypotheses) • Theory testing case studies or disciplined case studies

  9. Case-study methods in IPE (Odell) Single case study design • Descriptive case study • Preliminary illustration of a theory • Disciplined interpretative case study • Interpretation/explanation of an event by applying a known theory • Could lead to improvement of theory • Risk: underplaying evidence inconsistent with the argument, eclectic approach (which factors are more important) • Remedy: Engage sincerely in alternative explanations, add counterfactual arguments

  10. Case-study methods in IPE (Odell) Single case study design • Hypothesis-generating case study • Least-likely (theory-confirming) case study • E.g. The WTO treaties constrain actor’s national policies – case-study on the US • Most-likely (theory-infirming) case study • The WTO dispute settlement system is biased against emerging developing countries – case-study on Brazil’s application and success rate… • Deviant case study • Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and Deterrence Theory (Russett 1967)

  11. Case-study methods in IPE (Odell) Comparative methods • The method of difference (Mills Method of Difference) • C →E (other factors constant) • E.g. disputes on similar cases: GATT vs. WTO

  12. Case-study methods in IPE (Odell) Advantages of case studies • Generate valid theory • Refining theory, generate new hypotheses • Strong for documenting processes • Finding omitted variables • Key events better explained than in large-n statistical tests

  13. Case-study methods in IPE (Odell) Limits of case studies • Representation • Less useful for testing a theory • Lesser precision of magnitude of causal effects …

More Related