Political science research methods questions

Chapter 2 And 3 The Working With Political Science Research Methods Text By Mycoff

Please complete the following exercises from Chapter 2 in the Working with Political Science Research Methods text by Mycoff

Exercise 2.1

Exercise 2.2

Exercise 2.3

Exercise 2.6

Exercise 3.1

Exercise 3.2

Exercise 3.3

Exercise 3.4

Exercise 3.5 - Part A-D (attach part D on a word document)

Exercise 3.6

Exercise 3.7 (attach on a word document)

Exercise 3.8 (attach on a word document)

In chapter 2 of the textbook, we describe the scientific method and argue that it underlies empirical political science research. We note that empiricism is not the only method of obtaining knowledge—there are others that lots of people fervently adhere to—and a case can be made against trying to study politics scientifically. (There are even disagreements about the definition and nature of the scientific method.) Nevertheless, this way of acquiring knowledge is so common that many social scientists take it for granted, as do many average citizens. The problem is that scientific claims are sometimes difficult to distinguish from other kinds of statements. Nor is it always clear whether and how empirical analysis can be applied to propositions stated in theoretical and practical terms. The following questions, problems, and assignments therefore offer opportunities for you to think about the application of the empirical approach. Note that not all of the questions have one “right” answer. Many, in fact, require a lot of careful thought. And it is often necessary to redefine or clarify words or phrases, to look for hidden assumptions, and to consider whether or not statements can be “translated” into scientific terms.

Exercise 2–1. Make a list of the characteristics of scientific knowledge. The list may help organize your thinking for other questions in this chapter.

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Exercise 2–2. The chapter mentions several characteristics of scientific knowledge. It also warns about confusing commonsense and casual observations with verified or potentially verifiable claims. In this exercise you will try to identify and differentiate between normative statements, which are statements that suggest how things should be, and empirical statements, which are statements that can be measured, tested, or verified through observation. For each of the following statements, decide if the statement is normative, empirical, a combination of the two, or if there is not enough information in the statement for you to decide. Write your responses in the space provided after each statement and briefly explain why you think your answer is correct.

a. The Republicans won a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate in the 2014 midterm elections.

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b. Offshore drilling should be banned in Alaska because it is immoral to risk damaging an otherwise pristine natural environment.

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c. Early voting periods should be shortened because they disproportionately favor Democratic candidates for office.

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d. Multiparty systems are better for representation than two-party systems.

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e. More people voted in the most recent election than in the previous election.

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f. Senior citizens are more likely to vote than college students.

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g. Scotland would be better off today if it had voted for independence in 2014.

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h. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right of all people.

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i. Democratic leaders always have better ideas on social policy than Republican leaders.

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j. Decriminalizing marijuana distribution and regulating sales can create a substantial source of tax revenue.1

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k. Too many people have been unable to find work.

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l. It doesn’t make any sense to vote because so many ballots are cast in an election that no single vote is going to make a difference in the outcome.

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Exercise 2–3. Below are several paragraphs drawn from an article in which the author discusses a debate over how congressional districts are drawn:

I argue that map makers ought to “pack” districts with as many like-minded partisans as possible. Trying to draw “competitive districts” effectively cracks ideologically congruent votes into separate districts, which has the effect of increasing the absolute number of voters who will be unhappy with the outcome and dissatisfied with their representative.

 One common objection to this method of districting [packing] is that it would add to the polarization in Congress by creating overwhelmingly Republican (Democratic) districts that are more likely to elect very conservative (liberal) members.

 Some states, like Arizona, have passed laws or referenda specifying that a districting plan ought to maximize the number of competitive districts. This is not particularly surprising because the common wisdom among most voters and certainly among the media is that the House of Representatives does not have enough competitive districts currently, and that an increase in the number of competitive elections or in the amount of turnover in Congress will somehow enhance representation.

 From: Thomas L. Brunell, “Rethinking Redistricting: How Drawing Uncompetitive Districts Eliminates Gerrymanders, Enhances Representation, and Improves Attitudes toward Congress,” PS: Political Science and Politics 40 (January 2006): 77–85.

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a. Identify two normative statements or claims from the preceding text that can’t be tested empirically as currently expressed.

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b. Write down three statements or claims in the preceding text that are empirical and can be tested.

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Exercise 2–4. Many people make the following claim: “You can’t predict human behavior.” In light of our discussion of the scientific approach to political science, do you find this claim to be valid? (Hint: Try breaking human behavior down into more specific traits or properties. For example, consider if people are naturally aggressive. Then think of ways that this might be empirically investigated.)

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Exercise 2–5. Chapter 2 of the textbook highlights criticisms of the empirical study of political science. List the criticisms here.

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Which of the criticisms do you find most compelling and why?

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Helpful Hints

Decoding the Ambiguity of Political Discourse As we stated earlier, political discourse is frequently ambiguous, and you have to think carefully about what words really say. Sometimes a politician’s meaning is clear. Consider President Obama’s Rose Garden speech on a proposed nuclear deal with Iran.2 In his speech, President Obama said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has been advancing its nuclear program for decades,” which was a straightforward factual statement that could be verified empirically. But he also claimed, “I made clear that we were prepared to resolve this issue diplomatically, but only if Iran came to the table in a serious way.” The word serious makes this statement a judgment, not a factual proposition. Whether something is serious or not is an opinion. In some people’s minds, Iran had been making serious attempts at diplomacy, but others thought differently. Who was right? It is hard to see how the proposition could be scientifically proven true or false.

2 “Statement by the President on the Framework to Prevent Iran from Obtaining a Nuclear Weapon,” April 2, 2015, www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/02/statement-president-framework-prevent-iran-obtaining-nuclear-weapon.

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Exercise 2–6. Chapter 2 in the textbook focuses on empirical research and using the scientific method. Empiricism is defined as “relying on observation to verify propositions.” In this exercise you will want to consider how you might make observations to verify propositions. For each of the following empirical statements, indicate where you might look or how you might make observations to find information to verify the statement. In the example below, you will see that while you only need to provide one answer, there are many potential verification methods.

Example: A majority of voters oppose the use of the death penalty.

Answer: “I would search for survey results on national news organization Web sites,” or “I would randomly sample students at my university and ask if they support the death penalty,” or “I would call an interest group that focuses on the death penalty and ask about support for the death penalty among voters.”

a. More voters are registered with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party in Pennsylvania.

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b. The British Parliament currently has more than twelve parties represented by members.

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c. Someone working forty hours a week and earning the minimum wage will still be below the federal poverty level for a family of two.

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d. People are not willing to pay higher taxes to address climate change.

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e. Texas has the most stringent voter identification law in the United States.

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f. Ninety percent of deaths attributed to diarrheal diseases like cholera are children five years of age or younger.

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Exercise 2–7. In order to think about the scientific components of empirical research, it is useful to compare research projects that are more scientific with projects that are less scientific. For this exercise you will select two examples of empirical research with publicly available results on the Internet.

The first step is to find two projects to compare. You should look for a project that closely adheres to the scientific method and a project that clearly does not. For example, you might search for a report or opinion poll from a commercial organization like Gallup or Roper, a news organization like the New York Times or NBC News, a research institution like Brookings or Cato, or a government agency like the Government Accounting Office or the Environmental Protection Agency. These sources are more likely to generate research projects that follow the scientific method. You might also consider projects produced by entertainment media companies like ESPN, US Weekly, or TMZ. These organizations are less likely to produce scientific research and should provide a clear contrast with more scientific work.

a. Identify the sources for the two projects you selected and briefly describe each project. Include the URLs where they can be found.

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b. Compare and contrast the scientific nature of each project. Make sure to describe the scientific components each project made use of, such as random samples, replicability, generalization, etc.

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1 Kelley Phillips Erb, “It’s No Toke: Colorado Pulls in Millions in Marijuana Tax Revenue,” Forbes, March 11, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/03/11/its-no-toke-colorado-pulls-in-millions-in-marijuana-tax- revenue/.

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Chapter 3 Beginning the Research Process Identifying a Research Topic, Developing Research Questions, and Reviewing the Literature

Probably everyone would agree that picking and narrowing a topic are the hardest tasks confronting a new researcher. One can, of course, easily identify issues worthy of research, such as the war on terror or the effects of television on democracy. But moving from a desire to “do something on ________” to a specific theme that can be researched with relatively few resources and little time can be quite challenging.

Part of the difficulty lies in having enough information about the subject matter. What is already known about it? How have previous investigators studied it? What important questions remain unanswered? All these considerations motivate the review of the literature.

Chapter 3 of the textbook provides readers with some insights and tips for conducting an effective literature review. It is particularly important that you understand the differences between different kinds of sources, such as scholarly and mass circulation publications.

We assume that everyone knows roughly how to surf the Internet. So these assignments mainly force students to think carefully about what they are looking for and finding. As mentioned in the textbook chapter, you can easily enough use Google or equivalent software to search for terrorism or television or any other subject. But these efforts are usually unsuccessful because they lead to too much irrelevant information. Instead we encourage the application of more specialized databases and library tools.

Exercise 3–1. For this exercise you will begin thinking about how to find a research question for a research paper. One potential source for ideas is a political news Web site. Visit an online political news organization like Politico.com or BBC.com. On the lines following, write six research questions based on political news stories from the organization you selected.

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