INTL 701: Approaches to International Studies

Dr. Philip A. Schrodt
Graduate Program in International Studies
University of Kansas
Spring, 2002
Class time: Wednesday 5:30-8:20 p.m.
Class room: Regent's Center 228

Course Description

This course is a general introduction to graduate-level research in international studies. Topics will include basic philosophy of social science research (how do we know what we know?), the relative merits of qualitative "small-N" studies and quantitative "large-N" studies, the roles of theories, models and data, how to choose a research topic, how to design a research project, case study methods, and an introduction to formal quantitative and qualitative techniques. Course readings will illustrate how different methods have been used in practice, as well as articles on the theory and methods of research. The major written assignment will involve the writing the literature review and design of a formal research paper. In addition students will complete several shorter exercises dealing with the various methods.

While most of the readings in this course are from the academic literature, the course will emphasize these issues as a bridge between academic and applied studies. Research across cultures and historical periods is difficult, and there is no single answer or consensus on how to do this. At the same time, policies that are based on inappropriately designed studies or unwarranted interpretations of existing research can have profoundly negative consequences. The theme of "nothing is more practical than a good theory" will resonate through the course, as well the difficulties in properly evaluating theories. If the answers look easy, you are asking the wrong questions. Most of the philosophical issues that we are dealing with have been around for the better part of two centuries; we aren't going to resolve them but we can make a lot of progress on figuring out what the issues are.

Required Readings

• Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton University Press. 1994. ISBN 0-691-03471-9
• Charles C. Ragin. The Comparative Method. University of California Press. 1987. ISBN 0-520-06618-9
• John Gerring. Social Science Methodology. Cambridge University Press. 2001. ISBN 0-521-80513-9

Recommended:

• Gregory M. Scott and Stephen M. Garrison. 2000. The Political Science Student Writer's Manual.(3rd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (you will find this book useful if you are not familiar with the process of preparing and writing a research paper.)

The textbooks will be supplemented by a few articles that are available on the web, either through the university libraryÕs JSTOR system, or directly through web sites as indicated in the syllabus. Finally, I will be passing out a small number of xeroxed articles; these are denoted by [XR].

Homework assignments and occasional overhead projector slides used during the lectures, and an assortment of links to other political science research site are available at the web site: http://people.cc.ukans.edu/~schrodt/intl701

Evaluation

1. A number of small assignments throughout the semester: most of these will involve your critiquing short examples of research methods that will be discussed in class. The first draft of these assignments are due the day of class and will be used in class discussion, but you can turn a revised draft the next week based on the class discussion. These written critiques should be around 1 to 2 pages in length. There are a total of 12 such assignments -- you are expected to do 6 of these, including at least one of the empirical assignments in weeks 12, 13, and 14. [30%]

2. Research paper framework: The paper will develop the early parts of a research framework, including
   1. A clear statement of a thesis or hypothesis;
   2. A thorough discussion of the existing literature;
   3. Justification of the cases and/or data set that will be studied;
   4. Clear identification of the variables or aspects of the case that will be studied and why these are important, as well as evidence that they can be studied (that is, the information you need is available)
   5. Discussion of the research methodology justified with respect to the readings we have considered during the semester

   Note that the paper will not involve extensive actual research, although you will need to do sufficient research to establish the credibility of your approach. You can do this paper on any topic that would be suitable as an M.A.I.S. thesis topic, and in the case of advanced students, you will probably want to focus on your intended thesis. [35%]

3. Two 4-5 page essays: one will be near the middle of the semester, the other at the end. These will deal with questions that will allow you to integrate the material we have covered. [20%]

4. Participation in class discussion and evidence of timely reading of the assigned material. [15%]

Any student in this course who has a disability that is documented by the KU Services for Students with Disabilities office and may prevent him/her from fully demonstrating his/her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so that we can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate the educational opportunity.

Academic Misconduct

Violations of KU's policies on academic misconduct -- including but not limited to plagiarism on papers -- will be treated very seriously. Assignments involving academic misconduct will receive a zero, and further sanctions may also be imposed. Consult pages B6-B9 of the Spring 2002 "Timetable of Classes" for the university academic misconduct policy; if at any point you have any questions about these policies, feel free to ask me.

Contacting me

Email: schrodt@ku.edu

Lawrence office: Blake 523
phone: 864-9024
Hours: 10:30-12:30 Monday and Wednesday or by appointment

Edwards Campus office: 225R at least one-half hour before class
phone: 864-8520

Schedule of Topics and Required Readings

Week 1: Introduction to the Course
23 January

Readings: none

Note: Due to the snow closure on 30 January, for the time being the dates of all of the following topics are off by a week. At some point I'll figure out a way to catch up...

Week 2: What is "scientific" about social science?: basic research design issues
30 January

Readings: King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 1;
Geering, preface, chapter 1, 2.

Assignment: Choose a topic in international behavior and find two different studies of it, one using a large-N statistical approach and one using a small-N case-study or comparative approach. Compare and contrast theseÑto what extent are they looking at the same thing; to what extent are they different? Which is more credible and why? Bring a copy of the studies to class.

Week 3: Concepts and Operationalization
6 February

Readings: Geering, chapters 3, 4.
David Collier and James E. Mahoney, "Conceptual Stretching Revisited: Alternative Views of Categories in Comparative Analysis," American Political Science Review 87:4 (1993), 845-855. [JSTOR]

Assignment: Choose a general topic in international behavior (e.g. rebellion, conflict, development, moderization) and find two or three different ways that it has been conceptualized and operationalized. Compare and contrast these -- to what extent are they looking at the same thing; to what extent are they different? Which is more credible and why? Bring a copy of the studies to class.

Week 4: Propositions and hypotheses
13 February

Readings: Geering, chapter 5

Assignment (due in class): Come up with three different credible propositions about some international phenomenon and critique these: what is the proposition trying to get it; why the proposition might it be true?

Week 5: Evidence
20 February

Readings: King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 2;
Geering, preface, chapter 6.

Assignment (due in class): Take a credible proposition about some international phenomenon, and identify three different sets of information relevant to this. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the various sets of information

Week 6: Causality
27 February

Readings: King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 3;
Geering, preface, chapter 7.
James Fearon, "Counterfactuals and Hypotheses Testing in Political Science." World Politics 43 (1991) 169-95. [JSTOR]

Assignment (due in class): Find an article dealing with some international phenomenon that makes an assertion of causality (or makes a counter-factual argument), and critique the quality of the argument based on the criteria discussed in the readings.

Week 7: What makes a study interesting? Elements of the Research Paper
6 March

Readings: Geering research design chapters 8,9,10

Assignment (everyone): Initial description of your research paper topic (one to two pages, including an initial bibliography and a discussion of the relevant theories)

Related readings:

See the course web site for links to references on the APA and MLA style guides.

• Cuba, Lee. 1997. A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science. New York: Longman.
• The Economist. 1991. The Economist Style Guide. London: Economist Books. [particularly good on the use and mis-use of contemporary political terminology]
• Garson, G. David. 2001. Guide to Writing Empirical Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. New York: Marcel Dekker.
• Diana Hacker. 2000. A Pocket Manual of Style (3rd edition). New York: St. Martin's. (She also now has a web site: http://www.dianahacker.com/)
• Beth Luey. 1995. Handbook for Academic Authors, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. 1972. The Elements of Style. New York: MacMillan. [the classic guide to expository writing in English]
• Kate L. Turabian. 1987. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations (5th edition). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [This has long been the standard reference for dissertations. Turabian's bibliographic reference style has been somewhat superceded by the APA and MLA standards, but the book covers much, much more than this.]

Week 8: Classical Designs: The Case Study
13 March

Readings: Alexander George. 1979. "Case Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison." In Paul Lauren, ed. Diplomacy: New Approaches to History, Theory and Policy. (New York: Free Press) [XR]
Timothy J. McKeown. 1999. "Case Studies and the Statistical Worldview: Review of King, Keohane and Verba. International Organization 53,1: 161-190. [XR]
King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 6.

Assignment: Locate a study of international behavior that uses the case study approach and write a critique of it. What was the focus of the study, why was the particular case selected, what is the implicit (or explicit) comparison group; what were the primary results, and what weaknesses can you identify in the study. Bring a copy of the study to class.

20 March: Spring break, no class

Week 9: Classical Designs: Small-N Comparison
27 March

Readings: Ragin, chapters 1, 2, 3
Arendt Lijphart, "Comparative Politics and Comparative Method," American Political Science Review 65:3 (1971), 682-693. [JSTOR]

Assignment: Locate a study of international behavior that uses the small-N comparative approach and write a critique of it. What are the hypotheses being tested (and/or what concepts are the focus of the study); what was the case-selection criterion; what were the primary results, and what weaknesses can you identify in the study. Bring a copy of the study to class.

Week 10: Classical Designs: Large N Statistical Studies
3 April

Readings: King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 4;
Ragin, chapters 4, 5.

Assignment: Locate a study of international behavior that uses the large-N approach and write a critique of it. What are the hypotheses being tested; what data sets and analytical methods were used; what were the primary results, and what weaknesses can you identify in the study. Bring a copy of the study to class.

Week 11: What to Avoid
10 April

Readings: King, Keohane, and Verba, chapter 5;

Assignment: Locate a study of international behavior that has made at least one of the mistakes discussed by King, Keohane, and Verba; write a one to two-page critique of this. In particular, indicate how the study should have been done and speculate on how the results might have been different. Bring a copy of the study to class.

Week 11.5: Supplemental Session on Field Research Methods
10 April

Readings:

Jarol B. Manheim and Richard C. Rich. 1995. Empirical Political Analysis. White Plains, NY: Longman. chapter 11, "Direct Observation".

Charlotte Allen. 1997. "Spies Like Us: When Sociologists Deceive their Subjects". Lingua Franca (November 1997) pp. 31-39.

Fiona McLaughlin and Thierno Seydou Sall. 1999. "The give and take of fieldwork: Noun classes and other concerns in Fatick, Senegal 1989." In Paul Newman and Martha Raliff, eds. Linguistic fieldwork: A collection of essays on the practice of empirical linguistic research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(this is a good description of the experience of field research in less-developed areas; just read past the linguistic content)

Guest Lecturer: Deborah Gerner

Week 12: Techniques: Statistical Hypothesis Testing and Comparison of 2 populations
17 April

Readings: David Garson's "StatNotes" web site:
Significance tests: http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/signif.htm
Difference of means test: http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/ttest.htm

Assignment (due Week 13): Develop a simple quantitative hypothesis that can be tested using a difference of means test, find an appropriate data set (the World Wide Web will be your most likely source) and do an analysis of it.

Related readings:

Garson has an extensive set of links to other statistic-related web site at

http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/links.htm.

This being the web, many of the links have links to other links. There are literally thousands of data sets accessible from this point, and lots of additional instructional material.

Week 13: Techniques: Ragin's QCA Boolean Analysis
24 April

Readings: Ragin, chapters 6, 7, 8.

Assignment (due Week 14): Develop a simple quantitative hypothesis that can be tested using QCA, find an appropriate data set, and do an analysis of it.

Assignment (everyone): Draft of your research paper design -- this should have all of the components of the paper. I will evaluate these and indicate any areas where I think you need to do additional work.

Week 14: Techniques: Statistical Correlation
1 May

Readings: David Garson's "StatNotes" web site:
Correlation: http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/correl.htm
Regression: http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/regress.htm

Assignment (due Week 15): Develop a simple quantitative hypothesis that can be tested using regression analysis, find an appropriate data set, and do an analysis of it.

Week 15: Research design and applied international policy
8 May

Readings: Geering, postscript
Alexander George. 1993. Bridging the Gap: Theory and Practice in Foreign Policy. (Washington: U.S. Institute of Peace Press), pp. 1-29, 107-145 [XR].

Final version of paper and the final essay is due in the Political Science office (or via email) by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday 14 May.