Key research concepts in politics & international relations

From action research to validity, this innovative and informative text is an invaluable guide to a variety of core research concepts in both political science and international relations. Key Features: - Each entry is consistently structured, providing: a clear definition, a focused explanation, a summary of current debates and areas of research, further reading, and references to other related concepts. - Explains how and why particular research methods are used and highlights alternative research concepts and strategies. - Cross-relates entries, enabling you to dip in to topics and follow threads throughout the book. - Packed with illuminating examples to help you to apply theory to the 'real world' of political analysis. An essential companion for students of Politics and International Relations at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Indroduction Action Research Autobiography/Biography Research Behaviourialism Case Studies Causality and Correlations Comparative Method Concepts Content Analysis Deduction/Induction Discourse Analysis Documentary Analysis Ecological Fallacy Empirical Analysis Epistemology Ethics Ethnography and Ethnomethodology Evidence-based Policy Making (EBPM) Feminism/Feminist Methodologies Focus Groups Hypothesis-Testing and Inference Interviewing Levels of Measurement Methods Methodology Narratives Observation Official Data Ontology Paradigm Positivism Post-postivism Presenting Quantitative Analysis Primary Sources Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Rational-Choice Realism Reliability Sampling Secondary Analysis Survey Design Theory Triangulation Validity Variables Index