SES 

# TOPICS READINGS

Introduction and Required readings

course rationale
Shapiro, I. "Problems, Methods, and Theories in Political
Course overview and Science, or: What's Wrong with Political Science and What to Do
1 rationale About it." In Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics.
Why qualitative Edited by I. Shapiro, R. M. Smith, and T. E. Masoud. Cambridge,
research? UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521539432.

Required readings

Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL:

University of Chicago Press, 1996, chapters 2, 3, 9, and 10.
ISBN: 9780226458083.

Popper, K. "Normal Science and its Dangers." In Criticism and

the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1970. ISBN:
9780521096232.

Lakatos, I. "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific

Research Programmes." In Criticism and the Growth of
Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1965. ISBN: 9780521096232.
Philosophy of social Burrell, G., and G. Morgan. Sociological Paradigms and
science Organizational Analysis. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1979, pp. 1-9
and 130-143. ISBN: 9781857421149.
Philosophical
commitments of Morgan, G., and L. Smircich. "The Case for Qualitative
social science Research." Academy of Management Review 5, no. 4 (1980):
491-500.
2 Positivist vs. (and?)
interpretivist Bates, R. "The International Coffee Organization: An
approaches International Institution." In Analytical Narratives. Edited by R.
Bates, et al. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Behavioral
ISBN: 9780691001296.
assumptions in social
science research
Recommended readings

Elster, J. "Rational Choice History." American Political Science

Review 94, no. 3 (2000): 685-695.

Sil, R. "Problems Chasing Methods or Methods Chasing

Problems? Research Communities, Constrained Pluralism, and
the Role of Eclecticism." In Problems and Methods in the Study
of Politics. Edited by I. Shapiro, R. M. Smith, and T. E. Masoud.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN:
9780521539432.

Friedman, M. "The Methodology of Positive Economies." In

Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Edited by M.
Brodbeck. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1968. ASIN: B000OKUWJK.

3 Causation, Required readings

explanation, and
mechanisms King, G., R. Keohane, and S. Verba. Designing Social Inquiry:
Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ:
What is causal Princeton University Press, 1994, chapter 3. ISBN:
explanation? 9780691034713.

Can qualitative Tilly, C. "Mechanisms in Political Processes." Annual Review of

research establish Political Science 4 (2001): 21-41.
SES # TOPICS READINGS

Chandra, K. "Mechanisms v/s Outcomes." Essay for Symposium

on David Laitin's Work, Newsletter of APSA Section on
Qualitative Methods, 2006.

Petersen, R. Resistance and Rebellions: Lessons from Eastern

Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006,
chapters 1 and 6. ISBN: 9780521035156.
causality?

How can qualitative Recommended readings

research reveal
mechanisms?
Elster, J. "A Plea for Mechanisms." In Social Mechanisms: An
Analytical Approach to Social Theory. Edited by Peter Hedstrom
and Richard Swedberg. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780521596879.

Fearon, J. "Counterfactuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political

Science." World Politics 43, no. 2 (1991): 169-195.

Required readings

Abbott, A. Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social

Sciences. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004,
chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780393978148.

Mills, C. W. "On Intellectual Craftmanship." In The Sociological

Imagination. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.
ISBN: 9780195133738.

King, G., R. Keohane, and S. Verba. Designing Social Inquiry:

Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ:
Research discovery Princeton University Press, 1994, chapters 1 and 4. ISBN:
and design 9780691034713.
Discovering a Locke, R. Remaking the Italian Economy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
research question University Press, 1997, chapters 1 and 4. ISBN:
4
9780801484216.
Designing qualitative
research
Recommended readings
Triangulation
Brady, H., and D. Collier, eds. Rethinking Social Inquiry:
Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield, 2004. ISBN: 9780742511262.

Geddes, B. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and

Research Design in Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780472068357.

George, A., and A. Bennett. Case Studies and Theory

Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2005, chapter 4. ISBN: 9780262572224.

5 Case studies Required readings

What is a case? Van Evera, S. "What Are Case Studies? How Should They Be
Performed?" In Guide to Methods for Students of Political
Value of case study Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN:
research. 9780801484575.
The problem of case George, A., and A. Bennett. Case Studies and Theory
selection Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2005, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780262572224.
SES # TOPICS READINGS

Geddes, B. "How the Cases you Choose Affect the Answers

You Get: Selection Bias and Related Issues." In Paradigms and
Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in
Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan
Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780472068357.

Lijphart, A. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method."

American Political Science Review 65, no. 3 (1971): 682-93.

Locke, R., and K. Thelen. "Apples and Oranges Revisited:

Contextualized Comparisons and the Study of Comparative
Labor Politics." Politics & Society 23, no. 3 (1995): 337-367.

Comparative case
method Recommended readings

Ragin, C., and H. Becker, eds. What is a Case? Exploring the

Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521421881.

Yin, R. K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. ISBN: 9780761925538.

Gerring, J. "What Is a Case Study and What is it Good for?"

American Political Science Review 98, no. 2 (2004): 341-354.

Collier, D., and J. Mahoney. "Insight and Pitfalls: Selection Bias

in Qualitative Research." World Politics 49, no. 1 (1996): 56-91.

Required readings
Weiner, M. "Political Interviewing." In Studying Politics Abroad.
Edited by R. E. Ward. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1964. ASIN:
B000HMHY6O.

Ewick, P., and S. Silbey. "Narrating Social Structure: Stories of

Resistance to Legal Authority." American Journal of Sociology
108, no. 6 (2003): 1328-1372.

Scott, J. W. Gender and the Politics of History. New York, NY:

Columbia University Press, 1999, chapter 6. ISBN:
Interviews and 9780231118576.
documentary
evidence Nobles, M. Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in
Modern Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000,
Interviews as social chapter 3. ISBN: 9780804740593.
events
6
Issues of language Examples and recommended further readings
and power

Using documentary Tendler, J. Good Government in the Tropics. Baltimore, MD:

evidence Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780801860928.

Rubin, H., and I. Rubin. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of

Hearing Data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. ISBN:
9780761920755.

Leech, B. L. "Interview Methods in Political Science." American

Political Science Association Symposium, 2002.

Denzin, N. K. "The Sociological Interview." In The Research

Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. ISBN:
9780137743810.
SES # TOPICS READINGS

Required readings

Hammersley, M., and P. Atkinson. Ethnography: Principles in

Practice. London, UK: Routledge, 2007, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN:
9780415396059.

Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, NY: Basic

Books, chapters 1 and 15. ISBN: 9780465097197.

Scott, J. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant

Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987,
chapter 6. ISBN: 9780300036411.

Recommended readings

Becker, H. Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your

Research While You're Doing It. Chicago, IL: University of
Participant Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780226041247.
observation
Garfinkle, H. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Cambridge, UK:
What is participant Polity Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780745600055.
observation?
7 Sewell, W. H. "The Concept(s) of Culture." In Beyond the
Thick description Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and
Culture. Edited by V. Bonnell and L. Hunt. Berkeley, CA:
Under what University of California, 1999. ISBN: 9780520216792.
conditions is this
approach feasible? Wedeen, L. "Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political
Science." American Political Science Review 96, no. 4 (2002):
713-738.

Van Maanen, J. Tales of the Field. Chicago, IL: University of

Chicago Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780226849621.

Ethnographies

Becker, H. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New

York, NY: Free Press, 1963. ASIN: B0006AYFSW.

Whyte, W. F. Street Corner Society. Chicago, IL: University of

Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226895451.

Scott, James C. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion

and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1977. ISBN: 9780300021905.

8 Survey research Required readings

Boyd, R. W., and H. H. Hyman. "Survey Research." In

Handbook of Political Science. Vol. 7, Strategies of Inquiry.
Edited by F. Greenstein and N. Polsby. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1975. ISBN: 9780201026016.

Freeman, R. B., and J. Rogers. What Workers Want. Ithaca,

NY: Cornell University Press, 2006, chapters 2 and 3. ISBN:
9780801473258.

Examples and suggested additional readings

Frey, F. W. "Cross-Cultural Survey Research in Political

Science." In The Methodology of Comparative Research. Edited
by R. T. Holt and J. E. Turner. New York, NY: Free Press, 1970.
SES # TOPICS READINGS

ISBN: 9780029148501.

Weisberg, H. F., J. Krosnick, and B. D. Bowen. An

Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996. ISBN: 9780803974029.

Almond, G., and S. Verba. The Civic Culture. Boston, MA:

Little, Brown, 1989. ISBN: 9780803935587.

Verba, S., N. Nie, and J. Kim. Participation and Political

Equality: A Seven Nation Comparison. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780226852980.

Fishkin, J. S. The Voice of the People. New Haven, CT: Yale

University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780300072556.

Ingelhart, R. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989. ISBN:
9780691022963.

Converse, P., and R. Pierce. Political Representation in France.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN:
9780674686601.

Smith, B., and R. Turner. "The Quality of Survey Research in

Authoritarian Regimes: Brazil and the Southern Cone of Latin
America in the 1970s." In Statistical Abstract of Latin America.
Edited by J. Wilkie. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA, 1984. ISBN:
9780879032425.

Lewis, I. A., and William Schneider. "Is the Public Lying to the
Pollsters?" Public Opinion (1982): 42-47.

Verba, S. "The Uses of Survey Research in the Study of

Comparative Politics: Issues and Strategies." In Comparative
Survey Analysis. Edited by Stein Rokkan, et al. The Hague,
Mouton, 1969.

Scheuch, Erwin K. "The Cross-Cultural Use of Sample Surveys:

Problems of Comparability." In Comparative Survey Analysis.
Edited by Stein Rokkan, et al. The Hague, Mouton, 1969.

Stokes, S. C. "Politics and Latin America's Urban Poor:

Reflections from a Lima Shantytown." Latin American Research
Review 26, no. 2 (1991): 75-101.

Verba, S., K. Schlozman, and H. Brady. Voice and Equality:

Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780674942936.

9 Doing fieldwork Required readings

Gaining Access Rabinow, P. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco. Berkeley,

CA: University of California Press, 2007, chapters 4-5. ISBN:
Maintaining field 9780520251779.
notes
Barrett, C., and J. W. Cason. Overseas Research: A Practical
Ethics of fieldwork Guide. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997, chapters 5-6.
ISBN: 9780801855146.

Emerson, R., R. Fretz, and L. Shaw. "Processing Fieldnotes:

Coding and Memoing." In Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN:
9780226206813.

Read, B., L. M. MacLean, and M. Cammett. "Symposium: Field

SES # TOPICS READINGS

Research: How Rich? How Thick? How Participatory?" Qualitative

Methods 4, no. 2 (2006): 9-18.

Piore, M. "Qualitative Research: Does it Fit in Economics?"

European Management Review 3 (2006): 17-23.

Recommended readings

Aberbach, J., et al. "Exploring Elite Political Attitudes: Some

Methodological Lessons." Political Methodology 2 (1975): 1-27.

Required readings
Research proposal Przeworski, A., and F. Salomon. "On the Art of Writing
10-12
presentations Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social
Science Research Council Competitions." 1988.

Students may find the following texts useful:

Abbott, A. Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. New York, NY: W.W.
Norton and Company, 2004. ISBN: 9780393978148.

Mills, C. W. "On Intellectual Craftmanship." In The Sociological Imagination. New York,

NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780195133738.

King, G., R. Keohane, and S. Verba. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in
Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. ISBN:
9780691034713.

Brady, H., and D. Collier, eds. Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared
Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. ISBN: 9780742511262.

Van Evera, S. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1997, pp. 49-76. ISBN: 9780801484575.

Kuhn, T. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,
1996. ISBN: 9780226458083.

Becker, H. Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You're Doing It.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780226041247.

Freeman, R. B., and J. Rogers. What Workers Want. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
2006, chapters 2 and 3. ISBN: 9780801473258.

Geddes, B. Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in
Comparative Politics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN:
9780472068357.

Shapiro, I., R. M. Smith, and T. E. Masoud, eds. Problems and Methods in the Study of
Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521539432.