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Qualitative Research in Political Science
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Qualitative Research in Political Science

Four Volume Set
Edited by:


August 2016 | 1 504 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

In recent years there has been an explosion of research on qualitative methodology and methods in the social sciences at large, and in the field of Political Science in particular. This Major Work presents a comprehensively curated collection of key literature on this subject, organised into four thematic volumes:

Volume One 
includes papers on the ontological and epistemological foundations of qualitative research, before moving onto articles that compare qualitative with quantitative research, as well as statements that contrast the divergent strands within qualitative research.

Volume Two includes literature that exemplifies the tradition and techniques of cross-case comparisons.

Volume Three 
is devoted to the spectrum of approaches that focuses on within-case analysis in order to provide evidence for causal claims. The selected works shed light on the corresponding major concepts: causal mechanisms, congruence and process tracing.

Volume Four captures the spectrum of qualitative methods that highlights the importance of context and social constructions (meanings) and is most often summed up as interpretivism: ethnographic and practice approaches as well as discourse, frame and narrative analysis.

 
VOLUME ONE: BACKGROUNDS, PATHWAYS AND DIRECTIONS IN QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY
 
Introduction to Volume I
 
Part One: The Revolt in the US: Alternatives to the Statistical Template
The Science in Social Science

Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba
Refocussing the Discussion of Methodology

Henry E. Brady, David Collier and Jason Seawright
Studying Cases as Configurations

Charles C. Ragin
Aligning Ontology and Methodology in Comparative Politics

Peter A. Hall
Case Studies and Policy Relevant Theory

Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett
 
Part Two: Building on and Defending European Traditions: From Verstehen to Practice and Interpretation
Interpretation and the Sciences of Man

Charles Taylor
Five Misunderstandings about Case Study Research

Bent Flyvbjerg
Interpretive Empirical Political Science: What Makes This Not a Subfield of Qualitative Methods

Dvora Yanow
 
Part Three: Differentiating Methodological Approaches
A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research

James Mahoney and Gary Goertz
Qualitative Variations: The Sources of Divergent Methodological Approaches

Kendra L. Koivu and Erie Kimball Damman
Relevance and Refinements of Case Studies

Joachim Blatter and Markus Haverland
 
Part Four: Concept Building as the Analytic Path for Connecting Description and Meaning
Extract from "Guidelines for Concept Analysis"

Giovanni Sartori
Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research

David Collier and Steve Levitsky
Concept Formation in Political Science: An Anti-Naturalist Critique of Qualitative Methodology

Mark Bevir and Asasf Kedar
 
Part Five: The Call for Transparency: Rigor and/or Reflexivity in Data Collection/Creation
Extract from "Openness in Political Science: Data Access and Research Transparency"

Arthur Lupia and Colin Elman
Conclusion: Research Transparency for a Diverse Discipline

Tim Büthe and Alan M. Jacobs
 
VOLUME TWO: CAUSAL REGULARITIES, CROSS CASE COMPARISONS, CONFIGURATIONS
 
Introduction to Volume II
 
Part One: Classical Statements on Case Comparisons
Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method

Arend Lijphart
Research Designs

Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune
 
Part Two: Refinements of Case Comparisons
Some Methodological Problems in Comparative Politics

Andrew Murray Faure
On Time and Comparative Research

Stefano Bartolini
 
Part Three: Case Selection
Insights and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative Research

David Collier and James Mahoney
The Possibility Principle: Choosing Negative Cases in Comparative Research

James Mahoney and Gary Goertz
Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options

Jason Seawright and John Gerring
 
Part Four: Configurational Approaches
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as an Approach

Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Gisèle De Meur, Benoît Rihoux and Charles C. Ragin
Set Relations in Social Research: Basics Concepts and Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy-Set Relations

Charles C. Ragin
Where to Begin: A Survey of Five Approaches to Selecting Independent Variables for Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Edwin Amenta and Jane D. Poulsen
A Coincidence Analysis of a Causal Chain: The Swiss Minaret Vote

Michael Baumgartner and Ruedi Epple
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Fuzzy Sets: The Agenda for a Research Approach and a Data Analysis Technique

Claudius Wagemann and Carsten Q. Schneider
 
Part Five: Correlations versus Configurations
Forms and Problems of Comparison

Ingo Rohlfing
 
VOLUME THREE: MECHANISMS, TEMPORALITY AND WITHIN-CASE ANALYSIS
 
Introduction to Volume III
 
Part One: Mechanisms
Social Mechanisms: An Introductory Essay

Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg
Mechanisms in the Analysis of Social Macro-Phenomena

Renate Mayntz
Context and Causal Mechanisms in Political Analysis

Tulia G. Falleti and Julia F. Lynch
The Mother of All Isms: Causal Mechanisms and Structured Pluralism in International Relations Theory

Andrew Bennett
 
Part Two: Temporality
Not Just What, but When: Timing and Sequence in Political Processes

Paul Pierson
Data-Set Observations versus Causal-Process Observations: The 2000 U.S. Presidential Election

Henry Brady
Time Will Tell? Temporality and the Analysis of Causal Mechanisms and Processes

Anna Grzymala-Busse
Set Diagrams and Qualitative Research

James Mahoney and Rachel Sweet Vandrepoel
 
Part Three: Techniques and Practices of Within-Case Analysis
Study and Theory in Political Science

Harry Eckstein
Case Studies and Theories of Organizational Decision Making

Alexander L. George and Timothy J. McKeown
Tracing Causal Mechanisms

Jeffrey T. Checkel
Systematic Process Analysis: When and How to Use It

Peter A. Hall
In Search of Co-variance, Causal Mechanisms or Congruence? Towards a Plural Understanding of Case Studies

Joachim Blatter and Till Blume
Process Tracing and Causal Inference

Andrew Bennett
Efficient Process Tracing

Frank Schimmelfennig
Turning Observations into Evidence

Derek Beach and Rasmus Brun Pedersen
 
VOLUME FOUR: INTERPRETIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACHES
 
Introduction to volume IV
 
Part One: Meaning-Focused Research
Interpreting Interpretivism Interpreting Interpretations: The New Hermeneutics of Public Administration

Colin Hay
Integrating Rigor and Relevance in Public Administration Scholarship: The Contribution of Narrative Inquiry

Jennifer Dodge, Sonia M. Ospina and Erica Gabrielle Foldy
Symbols

Deborah Stone
 
Part Two: Ethnography and Field Methods`
Observation, Context, and Sequence in the Study of Politics

Richard F. Fenno, Jr
Reflections on Ethnographic Work in Political Science

Lisa Wedeen
On Writing Fieldnotes: Collection Strategies and Background Expectancies

Nicholas H. Wolfinger
Asking Questions: Techniques for Semistructured Interviews

Beth L. Leech
 
Part Three: Discourse and Metaphor Analysis
The Study of Discourse in International Relations: A Critique of Research and Methods

Jennifer Milliken
‘Speaking Europe’: The Politics of Integration Discourse

Thomas Diez
Methodological reflections on discourse analysis

Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes
Supermarkets and Culture Clash: The Epistemological Role of Metaphors in Administrative Practice

Dvora Yanow
 
Part Four: Framing and Narrative Analysis
Frame-Reflective Policy Discourse

Martin Rein and Donald A. Schön
From Policy “Frames” to “Framing”: Theorizing a More Dynamic, Political Approach

Merlijn van Hulst and Dvora Yanow
Narrative in Political Science

Molly Patterson and Kristen Renwick Monroe
Stories for Research

Steven Maynard-Moody and Michael Musheno
 
Part Five: Quality Issues
On Improving Qualitative Methods in Public Administration Research

Ralph S. Brower, Mitchel Y. Abolafia and Jered B. Carr
Reflexivity in Research on Civil Society: Constructivist Perspectives

Cecelia Lynch

This carefully selected compendium documents the enormous variation in qualitative political science research – and the dynamic progress it has made over the past decades. The volumes provide an excellent collection for political scientists seeking a systematic overview of the field, and they offer a great resource for teaching research design and methodology. 

Frank Schimmelfennig
Professor of European Politics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Blatter, Haverland, and van Hulst deserve our gratitude for bringing together this large and valuable collection of key articles. They make a decisive contribution to further institutionalizing the field of qualitative methods as a well-defined, coherent branch of methodology.

David Collier
Robson Professor, University of California, Berkeley

The Sage Major Work on Qualitative Research in Political Science is a superb collection. Drawing together some of the most influential scholars in the field, the editors have produced a methodological dialogue that is truly more than the sum of its parts. Researchers, teachers, and students will find this collection invaluable as an entryway into key debates and developments in the field today.

Joe Soss
Cowles Chair for the Study of Public Service, University of Minnesota

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ISBN: 9781473918962
£860.00