2023 Syllabus 課綱與週次

Methodology of Political Science (IPS701) 政治學方法論

Class Time：3 hrs (R 13:10-16:00)
Instructor: Prof. Frank C.S. LIU 劉正山
Prof. Liu's Office：SS 1009-1 (ext. 5555)
Office Hours: WF 13:30–15:30 (please make appointment by email)
Email： frankcsliu_at_g-mail.nsysu.edu.tw
Classroom：SS3010-2
Course Website: https://psmethodology.postach.io/

Course Description

Methodology is about what how we gain knowledge, a tool by which we evaluate questions we ask, the methods we use, and knowledge we acquire. As a doctoral level course aiming at providing an overview and reflection of the field, this course will focus on continuing debates across sub-fields of the discipline and help you look beyond the scope of your previous research. Students will be guided to think widely at the discipline level by overview eight major debates in the discipline. The subjects listed below will be introduced in class, each of which will take about one to two weeks of reading and discussion. Each time we meet we will spend two hours on discussion assigned readings and one hour on sharing each other's research progress, articles or news that worth investigation and debate. These subjects and assignments are designed to help you capture the differences between the three major epistemological stances–empiricism/positivism, scientific realism, and pragmatism–by which you will be better prepared for your academic career and ready to evaluate your and others' works.
  1. How Divided Are We? Thinking about the discipline
  2. How Useful is It to Label Ourselves as "Qualitative" or "Quantitative" Researchers?
  3. How "Science Ignorance" Drives the Discipline Progress in Epistemology?
  4. Is Scientific Realism a Better Promise for Knowedge Building?
  5. How Empirical is Empirical Enough?
  6. How Could Theorization be Achieved?
  7. How Much Truth Can We Find Out?
  8. Big Data and AI: How to Evaluate the Emergence of the Data-Driven Paradigm?

Grading Policy

Reaction Papers: 40% 四篇有反思深度的指定閱讀評議

Your individual work for this semester is a literature review of selected articles relevant to the subject of your choice. The purpose of this paper assignment is to show your
  1. reflection on the subject you chose, including the way scholars ask questions, the approach they adopted to answer questions, and the contributions and limits of their works;
  2. proposing an interesting questions that could draw attention from a wide audience;
  3. defense of and faith in an epistemological stance;
  4. considerations about choosing tools for answering questions.

In-Class Group Oral & Virtual Participation: 40% 參與+深思+發言

Each time your course participation will be recorded and graded. Participation includes attendance, raising questions, answering and responding to questions, leading discussion (20%), and oral presentations (10%).

Critiques of Someone's Research: 20% 一份展現你省思能力的自選文獻評論


Weekly Topics

No.
Date
Subjects
1
9/7
Introduction to the Class
2
9/14
TOPIC 1. How Divided Are We? Thinking about the Discipline
3
9/21
Where are you standing? Comment on each other's research projects.
4
9/28
TOPIC 2: How Useful is It to Label Ourselves as "Qualitative" or "Quantitative" Researchers?
5
10/5
TOPIC 3: How "Science Ignorance" Drives the Discipline Progress in Epistemology?
6
10/12
TOPIC 4: Is Scientific Realism a Better Promise for Knowedge Building?
7
10/19
TOPIC 5: How Could Theorization be Achieved?
8
10/26
[mid-term exam week]
9
11/2
TOPIC 6: How Empirical is Empirical Enough?
10
11/9
TPSA 2023.11.10&11 Participation (no class)
11
11/16
Round table: The Class' Observations about the Discipline in Taiwan
12
11/23
TOPIC 7: How Much Truth Can We Find Out?
13
11/30
More thoughts and evaluations about interpretivism
14
12/7
TOPIC 8: How to Evaluate the Emergence of the Data-Driven Paradigm?
15
12/14
Have pragmatists found their origins and done things right? More thoughts and evaluations about the promise and limits of pragmaticism.
16
12/21
Student presentation & class conclusion, TERM PAPER DUE in class
17
12/28
(no class) independent study & turning term paper
18
1/4
(no class) independent study & grades submitted

Schedule and Readings

The readings are supposed to be searched and downloaded by students. The instructor, however, will provide the files one week before the class on this page and remove them after the class. So download the papers at least 5 days before the next class and invest at least 4 hours in digesting them (see how you response to the weekly subject based on your reading). Bring your notes, at least one paragraph-- to the class to debate and present your ideas. 課前必須完成閱讀讓自己上課言之有物

The instructor's slides for in-class discussion (2022) was put [here at Rpubs] (<--click or go directly to https://rpubs.com/frankcsliu/psmethodologynote2022)

TOPIC 1: Thinking about the Discipline in the Era of Data Science

W1 [9/7] Introduction to the Class

W2 [9/14] How Divided Are We? Thinking about the Discipline

W3 [9/21] Where are you standing? Comment on each other's research projects

  • In-class works: check your basic skills to do research efficiently:
    • Self-learn using RSS to track news
    • Use SSCI to pick up 5 articles of your common interest (make sure the topic is shared by your team mate) and import the entries into your bibliography library.
    • Get the pdf (if available via university library) of the articles.
    • Zotero as a bib manager.

TOPIC 2: How Useful is It to Label Ourselves as "Qualitative" or "Quantitative" Researchers?

W4 [9/28] Invited Talk: 蔡榮祥教授談「質性方法與比政國關研究」

  • Readings:
    • 政治學比較方法的類型
      Download PDF
    • Lees, C. (2006). We are all comparativists now - Why and how single-country scholarship must adapt and incorporate the comparative politics approach. Comparative Political Studies, 39 (9) , 1084-1108.
      Download PDF
    • Halperin, S., & Heath, O. (2020). Forms of knowledge: Laws, explanation, and interpretation in the study of the social world. In Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills (3e ed., pp. 27–63). Oxford University Press.
      Download PDF
  • Supplemental Readings:
    • Hathcoat, J. D., Meixner, C., & Nicholas, M. C. (2019). Ontology and epistemology. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_56 (available from NSYSU library)
      Download PDF
    • McBride, K. A., MacMillan, F., George, E. S., & Steiner, G. Z. (2019). The use of mixed methods in research. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_97 (available from NSYSU library)
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    • Gerring, J. (2011). How good is good enough? A multidimensional, best-possible standard for research design. Political Research Quarterly, 64(3), 625–636.
      Download PDF
    • Hanson, B. (2008). Wither Qualitative/Quantitative? Grounds for methodological convergence. Quality & Quantity, 42 (1) , 97-111.
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    • Elman, C., Gerring, J., & Mahoney, J. (2016). Case study research putting the quant into the qual. Sociological Methods & Research, 45(3), 375–391. http://doi.org/10.1177/0049124116644273
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    • Glynn, A. N., & Ichino, N. (2015). Using qualitative information to improve causal inference. American Journal of Political Science, 59(4), 1055–1071. http://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12154
    • Mahoney, J., & Goertz, G. (2006). A tale of two cultures: Contrasting quantitative and qualitative research. Political Analysis, 14(3), 227–249. https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpj017
    • Merom, D., & John, J. R. (2019). Measurement issues in quantitative research. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, 663–679. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_95

TOPIC 3: How "Science Ignorance" Drives the Discipline Progress in Epistemology?

W5 [10/5] "Science Ignorance": What stop us from embracing our ignorance?

  • Ontology, Epistemology, and Methodology
  • Readings:
    • Friedman, J. (2007). Ignorance as a starting point: From modest epistemology to realistic political theory. Critical Review, 19 (1) , 1-22.
    • Hacking, I. (2000). The Social Construction of What? (Revised edition). Harvard University Press. Chapters 1 & 7
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    • Wendt, A. & Duvall, R. (2008). Sovereignty and the UFO. Political Theory, 36 (4), 607-633.
    • Utych, S. M. (2020). Powerless conservatives or powerless findings? PS: Political Science & Politics, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520000505
  • Supplemental:
    • Wendt, A. (2015). Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology. Cambridge University Press.

TOPIC 4: Is Scientific Realism a Better Promise for Knowedge Building?

W6 [10/12] Do you dare to Imagine? Why positivists like to be seen as scientific realists?

TOPIC 5: How Could Theorization be Achieved?

W7 [10/19]

  • Readings:
    • Elster, J. (1998). A plea for causal mechanisms. Hedstrom, P. & Swedberg, R.(Eds.) Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory. pp. 45-73. New York : Cambridge University Press.**
      Download PDF
    • Khanna, P. (2019). Positivism and realism. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, 151–168. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_59 (available from NSYSU library)
    • Lane, R. (1996). Positivism, scientific realism and political science: Recent developments in the philosophy of science. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 8 (3), 361-382.
  • Supplemental Readings: How could a scientific realist respond to critiques?
    • Glynn, A. N., & Ichino, N. (2015). Using qualitative information to improve causal inference. American Journal of Political Science, 59(4), 1055–1071. http://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12154
    • Merom, D., & John, J. R. (2019). Measurement issues in quantitative research. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, 663–679. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_95 (available from NSYSU library)

W8 [10/26] Mid-term exam week. [no class]

TOPIC 6: How Empirical is Empirical Enough?

W9 [11/2] Why theory is the ultimate goal worth pursuing? (and what if not?)

  • Readings:
    • Discuss the preparation for TPSA 2023.
    • Study the program and report your observations and reflections.
    • Then check out the programs of APSA, MPSA, and other major conference program in our discipline.
  • Supplemental Reading: the complexity and the agent-based modelers' world

W10 [11/9] switched to TPSA 2023 Annual Conference Nov. 10 & 11 [preparation and participation].

  • No class.

W11 [11/16] Round table: The Class' Observations about the Discipline in Taiwan

TOPIC 7: How Much "Truth" Can We Find Out?

W12 [11/23] Why Do We Stop Telling Good Stories? Interpretivists’ Way of Thinking

  • Readings:
  • Supplemental Readings:
    • Liu, F. C.-S. (2018). Introduction to the Special Issue — Social media and inquiry into political change: Collaborative approaches to confirmatory and exploratory research in the digital age. Issues & Studies, 54(3), 1802002-1~5 [pdf]
    • Blau, A. (2021). How (not) to use the history of political thought for contemporary purposes. American Journal of Political Science, 65(2), 359–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12545
    • Gelman, A., & Basbøll, T. (2014). When do stories work? Evidence and illustration in the social sciences. Sociological Methods & Research, 0049124114526377. doi:10.1177/0049124114526377
    • Schwartz-Shea, P., & Yanow, D. (2011). Interpretive Research Design: Concepts and Processes (1 edition). Routledge. (Chapters 2, 3, & 7)

    • Ewa Atanassow on "Tocqueville's Dilemmas and Ours: Sovereignty, Nationalism, Globalization" --Refrence: Atanassow, E. (2022). Tocqueville’s d Princeton University PressShow-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/
    • Zhong, Y. (2016). Explaining national identity shift in Taiwan. Journal of Contemporary China, 25(99), 336–352. http://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2015.1104866
    • Huang, C.-H., & James, P. (2014). Blue, green or aquamarine? Taiwan and the status quo preference in cross-strait relations. The China Quarterly, 219, 670–692.

W13 [11/30]

  • No class; rescheduled to W17.

TOPIC 8: How to Evaluate the Emergence of the Data-Driven Paradigm?

W14 [12/7] How much problem-driven research could reshape our discipline?

  • Readings:
    • Johnson, J. (2006). Consequences of positivism: A pragmatist assessment. Comparative Political Studies, 39 (2) , 224-252.
    • Hamati-Ataya, I. (2012). Beyond (Post)Positivism: The Missed Promises of Systemic Pragmatism. International Studies Quarterly, 56(2), 291–305. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00710.x
    • Sil, R., & Katzenstein, P. J. (2010). Analytic eclecticism in the study of world politics: Reconfiguring problems and mechanisms across research traditions. Perspectives on Politics, 8(2), 411–431. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592710001179
  • Supplemental Readings:
    • George, G., Osinga, E. C., Lavie, D., & Scott, B. A. (2016). Big data and data science methods for management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5), 1493–1507. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4005
    • Lazer, D., Kennedy, R., King, G., & Vespignani, A. (2014). The parable of google flu: Traps in big data analysis. Science, 343(14 March), 1203–1205. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248506
    • Levy, K. E., & Johns, D. M. (2016). When open data is a Trojan Horse: The weaponization of transparency in science and governance. Big Data & Society, 3(1). http://doi.org/10.1177/2053951715621568

W15 [12/14] Have pragmatists found their origins and done things right? More thoughts and evaluations about the promise and limits of pragmaticism.


You Got the Map, So You Are On Your Own Track and Begin the Journey

W16 [12/21] More Discussions about Intellectual Contributions to the Discipline

  • Why cannot this author get a Ph.D. for this top-seller publication?
    • Greene, R. (2000). The 48 Laws of Power (First Edition). Penguin Books.
  • A pragmatist's attitutde toward truth and knoowldge:
    • Lapoujade, D. (2019). Truth and knowledge. In T. Lamarre (Trans.), William James: Empiricism and Pragmatism (pp. 27–50). Duke University Press Books.
      Download PDF

W17 (12/28) Conclusion & Student Presentation of Semester Work (Term paper due)

W18 (2024/1/4) Independent Research and Exploration

For those who are familiar with both Zotero and RStudio, now it is time to try self-learning Quarto to generate bib (the next generation of RStudio's Rmarkdown that integrated with Zotero).