BSSn4495 Qualitative Research Methods

Fakulta sociálních studií
jaro 2025
Rozsah
1/1/0. 7 kr. Ukončení: zk.
Vyučující
Miriam Matejova, Ph.D. (přednášející)
Garance
Miriam Matejova, Ph.D.
Katedra politologie – Fakulta sociálních studií
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Katedra politologie – Fakulta sociálních studií
Omezení zápisu do předmětu
Předmět je určen pouze studentům mateřských oborů.

Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 20 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 0/20, pouze zareg.: 0/20
Mateřské obory/plány
Cíle předmětu
This course examines the logic and methods of qualitative research in political science. The goal is to equip students with tools to both conduct and understand social-scientific studies. We will discuss the goals of empirical political research, posing research questions and constructing hypotheses. Some of the main questions to address are: What are the goals of empirical political research? When we do qualitative research, what are we looking for? How do we recognize it? Where do we look for it? How do we assess the evidence we find? The course mainly focuses on the study of causation, including methodological challenges posed by causal inference.
Výstupy z učení
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to: • Identify and construct major components of research design, including research questions, theories, and hypotheses. • Critically evaluate competing hypotheses. • Identify and respond to challenges of causal inference. • Design your own research project.
Osnova
  • Questions, answers, theory
  • Causality and causal logic
  • The small-n comparative method
  • Strategies for causal identification: experiments and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)
  • The logic of process tracing
  • Nuts and bolts of process tracing
  • Case selection and generalization
  • Validity, reliability, error, and bias
  • Analyzing types of qualitative evidence I: fieldwork in conflict zones
  • Analyzing types of qualitative evidence II: archival work, elite interviewing
Literatura
    povinná literatura
  • • Green, Donald, and Alan Gerber. “The Underprovision of Experiments in Political Science.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 589, no. 1 (2003): 94-112.
  • • Seawright, Jason, and John Gerring. “Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options.” Political Research Quarterly 61, no. 2 (2008): 294-308.
  • • King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
  • • Przeworski, Adam and Henry Teune. The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1970.
  • • Collier, David. “Understanding process tracing,” Political Science and Politics 44, no.4 (2011): 823-30.
  • • Adcock, Robert, and David Collier. “Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research.” The American Political Science Review, 95, no. 3 (2001): 529-546.
Výukové metody
lectures, class discussion, in-class exercises
Metody hodnocení
research project, final exam
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
Další komentáře
Předmět je vyučován každoročně.
Výuka probíhá každý týden.
Předmět je zařazen také v obdobích jaro 2021, jaro 2022, jaro 2024.