Research Designs in Political Science - Einzelansicht

Appropriate and well-thought-out research designs are the basis for any sound and rigorous academic reasoning and arguing in political science. Essentially, they enable researchers to arrive at valid and reliable descriptive, explanatory or interpretative conclusions.

They do so above all by specifying

• how research is (to be) carried out, that is what observations and data are needed and how they are constructed, collected and coded, and
• how evidence is used to answer the research question, that is how observations and data are interpreted and analysed.

This course is designed as an overview on research designs and will address research designs in a broad and comprehensive way. It will familiarize students with the fundamentals of research design in political science and the variety of available research designs.

Students will be introduced to the basics of research design and the core issues and potential pitfalls in doing political science research, namely a) different epistemological and ontological perspectives on research, b) concept formation, operationalisation and measurement, c) causality and explanation, d) the role of theory, and e) case selection. Moreover, students will be acquainted with the basic research strategies that are typically used in political science, namely a) experimental designs, b) large-n designs, c) comparative designs (medium to small-n), d) case study designs, and e) mixed-methods designs.

By the end of the course, students will be able

• to avoid potential pitfalls in doing political science research, in particular with regard to causality, concepts and case selection;
• to identify the strengths, limitations and trade-offs of different research designs;
• to choose appropriate research designs for their own research; and
• to critically evaluate existing research from a methodological point of view.

More generally, students thus learn critical thinking and will be able to assess what and how knowledge is produced and to identify how valid and reliable causal claims are that are made in political science or in public and political debates.

By and large, the individual sessions follow a given structure. Each session typically begins by reviewing and discussing the issues and questions raised in the assigned readings. Discussion then turns to consider the practical implications of those issues and questions. To this end, students will apply their lessons in practical exercises.

Due to public holdiays and important obligations of the lecturer, there will be no sessions on May 4, May 25 (public holiday), June 1, June 8 and June 22. Four sessions will be compensated by 4-hour sessions (from 14 to 18 pm or 16 to 20 pm) on May 18, June 15, June 29 and July 6.

The course is designed for Master students in the first, second or third semester. It does not replace and is substantially distinct from the Colloquia for Master Theses.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of two essays, one mid-term and one final essay at the end of the term. In the mid-term essay, students are expected to discuss one of the core issues in research designs in political science that are addressed in the first part of the course. In the final essay, students are expected to evaluate an existing academic study from a methodological point of view.