Suchergebnisse

Over the course of the unfolding of the DART initiative and the debates that have ensued, one of the most curious silences has been an absence of explicit discussion of how DA-RT relates to the practice that has historiwcally differentiated social scientific claims from other sorts: peer review. If DA-RT is intended to enforce quality standards, it is taking on a role that peer review has played for quite some time.1 As Dvora Yanow and I asked in an examination of the origins of DA-RT (2016, 11): [W]hat, precisely, is wrong with continuing to rely on peer review for policing epistemiccommunity standards? While the peer review process is not without problems or critics, when it functions well, it draws on [reviewers'] expertise. Informing this expertise are evaluative standards that are to some extent codified in methods texts, but practitioners also draw on expert knowledge that is often known tacitly (Polanyi 1966; Flyvbjerg 2001; Yanow 2015, 277–85; cf. Yashar 2016).

Tell a disciplinary colleague that you are teaching quantitative or comparative case study methods and you will likely get an understanding nod of the head. Likewise, graduate students are reading quantitative research in their seminars and the term case study will be familiar to all of them no matter their subfield. But tell that same colleague or student that you include interpretive methods in your syllabus and you are likely to be met with a puzzled look or an outright question: "What's that?" Students, too, may be uncertain of the meaning of "interpretive methods," asking themselves, "Is that the same as qualitative methods?" and "Have I read anything like that in my seminars?"

Ancient Greece has long exercised a powerful hold on the imagination of modern political science. But until fairly recently, this influence has largely been philosophical, related to the origins of many theoretical concepts—including the concept of politics itself—in the ancient world. In The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece, Josiah Ober offers a synoptic and ambitious social theoretical account of the ancient Greek world, the sources of its power, the causes of its decline, and the lessons that can be drawn from this story for contemporary social and political science. We have thus invited a range of political scientists to comment on Ober's account of classical Greece and its relevance to contemporary political inquiry.

Draws on department program descriptions & Web sites for 57 US doctoral programs to provide aggregate curricular patterns on doctoral program requirements & offerings. At issue is (1) whether there any program-wide vs field-limited requirements, (2) the curricular definitions of methods & methodology, & (3) the extent to which philosophy of science & the scope &/or history of the discipline are offered or required. Findings suggest a curriculum that fails to provide students the tools to appreciate the scope of methods available in the discipline. The dominance of quantitative methods is verified, & many highly ranked programs appear to foster disciplinary fragmentation by opting out of pertinent debates. Further, a quantitative methods core elides a vast range of nonpositivist social science research deemed relevant to political science. This lack of respect for cross-specialty communication is elaborated on, & three broad areas for debate are offered, eg, departments ought to reevaluate their requirements with an eye toward considering political science a discipline vs a collection of fields. The virtues of methodological pluralism are briefly reflected on in conclusion. 3 Tables, 2 Photographs, 1 Appendix, 28 References. J. Zendejas

Subgroup optimization occurs when a group solves its internal problems of cooperation, but that cooperation is detrimental to the organization as a whole. Here, small-group experiments designed to model this problem are reported that tested hypotheses from the solidarity & prisoners' dilemma literatures. Data on 76 groups involving 380 Ss (college students & local residents in Logan, Utah) indicate that interacting Ss reject individual, material incentives in favor of maximizing payoff for the subgroup -- even when such action harms an outgroup & collective efficiency. Results also indicate that such parochial tendencies can be offset depending on perception of the outgroup & decision-making structures. Implications include the importance of the concept of the "public interest" to an adminstrator's decision calculus. 6 Exhibits, 1 Appendix, 48 References. AA

Exceptionally clear and well-written chapters provide engaging discussions of the methods of accessing, generating, and analyzing social science data, using methods ranging from reflexive historical analysis to critical ethnography. Reflecting on their own research experiences, the contributors offer an inside, applied perspective on how research topics, evidence, and methods intertwine to produce knowledge in the social sciences.