Active Citation: A Precondition for Replicable Qualitative Research

Item Type Journal Article
Author Andrew Moravcsik
URL http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=PSC&volumeId=43&issueId=01
Volume 43
Issue 01
Pages 29-35
Publication PS: Political Science & Politics
Date 2010
DOI 10.1017/S1049096510990781
Accessed 2010-01-26 18:58:51
Library Catalog Cambridge Journals Online
Abstract Qualitative research dominates political science. In the field of international relations (IR), for example, about 70% of scholars primarily employ qualitative methods, compared to 21% favoring formal or quantitative analysis (Jordan et al. 2009). Since nearly all of the latter make secondary use of textual and historical methods, overall over 90% of IR scholars employ qualitative analysis, whereas 48% use any statistical and only 12% any formal methods. This understates the dominance of qualitative analysis, for many statistical data sets rest ultimately on historical work, and IR scholars, when polled, report that qualitative case studies are more relevant for policy than quantitative or formal work. Hardly any major IR debate—whether that over the end of the cold war, American unipolarity, Chinese foreign policy, the nature of European integration, compliance with international law, democratic peace, the causes of war, or the impact of human rights norms—remains untouched by important qualitative contributions.
Title Active Citation: A Precondition for Replicable Qualitative Research
Short Title Active Citation
Date Added 2010-01-26 13:58
Date Modified 2010-01-26 13:58

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