Political Methodology

Methods in the Political Science Discipline The one thing all sound political science research has in common is a strong methodology. Regardless of whether or not the research is qualitative or quantitative in nature, it must possess a clear, well-designed methodological foundation. Without such a foundation, the research is destined to fail. Graduate students are taught this in numerous classes throughout their entire graduate career. ECPR also echoes this tradition through the organization of the ECPR Winter and Summer schools. The aim of this section is to improve the understanding of political methodology through an exchange of ideas, and foster a discussion about methods. Unlike most methods Sections that focus primarily – if not entirely – on quantitative research, this Section aims to be cross-methodological, inviting panels and papers from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Ideally, three panels would comprise the Section. One would be made up of papers that focus purely on methods, while the other two focus on creative examples and uses of the two major methodological disciplines. The latter two panels are purposefully broad, inviting research questions from all areas of political science. • Panel 1: Pure Methods. This panel invites papers that focus entirely on methods, and that expand existing or adopt new approaches. Papers can be either qualitative or quantitative in nature. • Panel 2: Qualitative Methods. This panel invites papers that showcase creative uses of any qualitative methodological strategy. Participants are welcome to submit papers that come from any subject within political science, as long as there is a clear emphasis on qualitative methods. • Panel 3: Quantitative Methods. This panel invites papers that showcase creative uses of any quantitative methodological strategy. Participants are welcome to submit papers that come from any subject within political science, as long as there is a clear emphasis on quantitative methods. Previous Sections on political methodology are not always particularly popular at graduate student conferences, likely because many graduate students are uncomfortable developing new methodologies and/or do not focus their research on such endeavours. However, our goal is to bring this Section to an appropriate graduate student-level, by focusing on creative uses of existing, popular methodologies that many graduate students are already using so that other students can apply these lessons to their own future research. Further, we hope to attract not only students who focus their PhD work on methods, but also students from other subject areas. This allows students to learn from each other, gain new insights into potential uses for the methodology in question, and foster an exchange of information.