POL 2156 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Intersubjectivity, Theoretical Definition, Statistical Hypothesis Testing
19 Feb 2016
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Pol 2156 midterm review: scientific approach to politics. Scientific approach to politics: using critical thought as a guide to our perceptions of the political world. Normative analysis: prescriptive in nature and addresses how society an political life should be. Empirical research: descriptive in nature; the goal is to describe and to explain political world as it is rather than how it should be. Intersubjectivity: empirical facts must be independently observed and agreed upon by many people. Social sciences use probability in stating the generalized form of causal relationships. Steps in the scientific method: identify the problem, hypothesize the cause of the problem, provide clear definitions of the concepts, operationalize the concepts. Moves from general or conceptual level to the specific and concrete: gather empirical data, test the hypothesis or hypotheses, reflect back on theory, publicize the results, replicate the results, research ethics: people behind the numbers documentary.
