John Gerring è professore di Scienze Politiche presso la Boston University. La sua ricerca si concentra sulle istituzioni politiche e sulle metodologie delle scienze politiche, cercando di comprendere come gli assetti istituzionali influenzino i risultati politici. Si sforza di superare i limiti degli approcci tradizionali alla politica comparata attraverso strumenti metodologici innovativi.
A practical guide to finding your research topic, for social scientists of all fields who wish to improve their creativity and productivity. It should be of interest to readers who are just setting out and looking for thesis topics, as well as those who have been ploughing the fields for some time and wish to explore new areas.
This book explores the deep roots of modern democracy, focusing on geography and long-term patterns of global diffusion, through statistical analyses of new databases, small-N studies and a review of the historical literature. It will appeal to historically-oriented social scientists, political historians, and anyone interested in democracy.
While population affects nearly every aspect of politics, its impact has been strikingly under-researched. This book rectifies this omission by examining scale effects across a great variety of political dimensions, encompassing all levels of politics. The authors provide generalizable findings alongside detailed analyses of specific cases.
This textbook provides a clear, concise, and comprehensive introduction to methodological issues encountered by the various social science disciplines. It emphasizes applications, with detailed examples, so that readers can put these methods to work in their research. Within a unified framework, John Gerring and Dino Christenson integrate a variety of methods - descriptive and causal, observational and experimental, qualitative and quantitative. The text covers a wide range of topics including research design, data-gathering techniques, statistics, theoretical frameworks, and social science writing. It is designed both for those attempting to make sense of social science, as well as those aiming to conduct original research. The text is accompanied by online practice questions, exercises, examples, and additional resources, including related readings and websites. An essential resource for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in communications, criminal justice, economics, business, finance, management, education, environmental policy, international development, law, political science, public health, public policy, social work, sociology, and urban planning.
Preface; Part I. Case Studies: 1. Surveys; 2. Definitions; Part II. Selecting Cases: 3. Overview of case selection; 4. Descriptive case studies; 5. Causal case studies; 6. Algorithms and samples; Part III. Analyzing Cases: 7. A typology of research designs; 8. Quantitative and qualitative modes of analysis; Part IV. Validity: 9. Internal validity; 10. External validity; Part V. Conclusions: 11. Tradeoffs; Part VI. References; Index.
Case Study Principles and Practices aims to provide a general understanding of the case study method as well as specific tools for its successful implementation. These tools can be utilized in all fields where the case study method is prominent, including business, anthropology, communications, economics, education, medicine, political science, social work, and sociology. Topics include the definition of a 'case study,' the strengths and weaknesses of this distinctive method, strategies for choosing cases, an experimental template for understanding research design, and the role of singular observations in case study research. It is argued that a diversity of approaches - experimental, observational, qualitative, quantitative, ethnographic - may be successfully integrated into case study research. This book breaks down traditional boundaries between qualitative and quantitative, experimental and nonexperimental, positivist and interpretivist.
This book is an introduction to methodological issues in the social sciences that is appropriate for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and general readers with some background in social science subjects. It is a concise and readable guide to doing and evaluating work in anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology.