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POLS 2503.002: Evidence & Knowledge

Thursday

4 April 2019

Today’s Agenda

• Reminders/Following Up • Article Analysis #5 is due Friday, April 12, 2019 • Exam #2 will be graded and returned next Tuesday. • Decision on Final Exam… • Research Presentation Assignment

• Today’s Topic: Continuing Qualitative Research Designs • Objectives:

• Understand the differences between Qualitative/Quantitative Research Design • What does a Qualitative research design look like? • What types of research approaches are there?

Qualitative Research Designs

When to use Qualitative Designs

1. Qualitative data are likely to be more important when: ➢ Not much is known about a subject;

➢ When a researcher seeks to develop a new concept, uncover a new hypothesis, or shed light on an unknown causal mechanism.

2. Qualitative data are more useful when the study is focused on: ➢ A single case (or event) or a small number of cases (or events)

3. When attempting to examine data that is not easily quantifiable.

Qualitative Studies and the Cone of Validity

Features of a Qualitative Designs

Key features of Qualitative Designs:

1. Best applied to research designs that seek to make exploratory, case-based or “sense-making” of a particular phenomena.

2. Typically requires an in-depth examination of a particular area of research, with contextualized understanding of the social and historical elements of that area.

3. Uses case studies, interviews, text and speech analysis, and secondary sources for evidence.

4. The method excels at identifying the Causal Mechanism (or “Black Box”) of a causal relationship.

Types of Qualitative Research Designs

Types of Quantitative Studies

Types of Qualitative Studies:

• Interviews

• Historical/Archival Analysis

• Process Tracing

• Case Studies

• Ethnographic/Interpretive Designs

Qualitative Designs - Interviews Interviews are a research method used to elicit information about individual attributes, behavior, preferences, feelings, attitudes, knowledge, etc.

Two primary forms: Structured and Semi-Structured

Structured interviews have a specific set of questions/topics that the interviewer is not to deviate from.

Semi-Structured interviews have a general framework, but will allow for freedom to expand as necessary (think of a reporter interviewing someone)

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages to this approach?

Qualitative Designs – Historical Analysis

Some qualitative scholars are interested in historical events, processes, or phenomena. The best way to approach this is through a thorough historical analysis and archival research.

What makes historical analysis different than historical research (i.e. what historians do)?

Historical analysis seeks a historical explanation for the phenomena of interest. This is done by attempting to identify causal relationships or causal mechanisms.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages that might be present in this approach?

Qualitative Designs – Process Tracing

A method that is often paired with historical analysis is process tracing.

Process tracing is a method used to “trace” a causal process from the dependent variable to the independent variable of interest.

In other words, you begin at the outcome and work your way back, collecting as much evidence as possible that might explain your outcome.

Process Tracing

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages to this approach?

Qualitative Designs – Case Studies The most commonly associated and used qualitative approach are case studies.

Key Decisions in the Selection of the Case Study Method: ➢ Identifying/developing complex theories, such as:

➢ Constructs at the formative theory-building stages, ➢ Studies where individual experiences of participants and the context of their actions is

crucial, ➢ For studies examining temporal processes.

➢ Identifying the Unit of Analysis – this will be what you are comparing across.

➢ Selection of a Single or Multiple Case Design.

➢ Identification of cases – how should you select your cases*

➢ Identifying and collecting data.

Qualitative Designs – Case Studies One of the larger issues within case selection studies is how the researcher should select their cases. There are a number of ways to do this; however, there are five (5) common approaches to this…

Case Selection Strategies: ➢ Extreme (1+) – Cases occur in direct opposition to each other.

➢ Deviant (1+) – Case that disproves a given theory or commonly accepted explanation.

➢ Most Similar (2+) – Cases where disagreement occurs on outcome.

➢ Most Different (2+) – Cases where disagreement occurs in explanation variables, but match on outcome.

➢ Diverse (2+) – Cases that show there are a variety of causal mechanisms that explain the relationship between X → 𝒀.

Qualitative Designs – Ethnographic/Interpretive Approaches

Interpretive research is often only loosely connected to Qualitative approaches. This is in part because interpretive approaches do not adhere to research designs around positive science (positivism).

Interpretive approaches are usually employed as a means to make sense of the world, hidden concepts, or processes. This approach argues that social reality is not singular or objective, but is rather shaped by human experiences and social contexts.

Therefore, social phenomena cannot be studied without an understanding of their socio-historical context.

Excellent examples of this: work of James Scott (anarchy), the work of Lisa Wedeen (culture), Timothy Pachirat (exposure to violence/industrialized killing).

Qualitative Designs

What are the advantages/disadvantages to the case study approach?

Are there advantages/disadvantages to the Interpretive approach?

Reading(s) for Tuesday (4/9/2019):

*Seawright, J. (2016). Chapter 1 -Integrative Multi-Method Research (pages 1-12). In Multi-Method Social Science: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Tools.

**Ahmed, A. & R. Sil (2012). When Multi-Method Research Subverts Methodological Pluralism – or, Why We Still Need Single- Method Research. Perspectives on Politics, 10(4), 935-953. **Read Pages 935-938