There are many different ways to do political science research. This book takes a core question that motivates research in political science – what is democracy? – and presents, in a single volume, original research demonstrating a variety of approaches to studying it. The approaches and related methods covered by the chapters in this book include normative political theory, positivist quantitative analysis, behaviouralism, critical theory, post-structuralism, historical institutionalism, process tracing, case studies, and literature reviews. Readers are confronted with the different assumptions that researchers make when entering the research process and can compare and contrast the many different ways that a single question can be studied . This book will be enlightening for students of democracy as well as those interested in research design and methodological approaches.
There are many different ways to do political science research. This book takes a core question that motivates research in political science – what is democracy? – and presents, in a single volume, original research demonstrating a variety of approaches to studying it. The approaches and related methods covered by the chapters in this book include normative political theory, positivist quantitative analysis, behaviouralism, critical theory, post-structuralism, historical institutionalism, process tracing, case studies, and literature reviews. Readers are confronted with the different assumptions that researchers make when entering the research process and can compare and contrast the many different ways that a single question can be studied . This book will be enlightening for students of democracy as well as those interested in research design and methodological approaches.
1. Approaching the Study of Democracy
Cameron D. Anderson, Western University and Laura B. Stephenson,
Western University
Part I – Democracy in Theory: Normative Approaches
2. Democracy: What and Why
Charles Jones, Western University
3. Is Majority Rule Democratic?
Richard Vernon, Western University
Part II – Analyzing Democracy: Positivist Approaches
4. Evaluating a Democracy: Are Citizens Engaged?
Cameron D. Anderson, Western University and Laura B. Stephenson,
Western University
5. Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy
David Armstrong, Western University
6. A Democratic Continuum?
Bruce Morrison, Western University
7. Membership Rules for Democratic Communities: Canada and the
United States
Andrew Sancton, Western University and Christopher Alcantara,
Western University
8. Representation and the Practice of Politics
Rob Leone, Western University and Josh Morgan, City Councilor,
London, Ontario
9. The Democratic Dimensions of Specialized Governments
Joseph Lyons, Western University
Part III – Interpreting Democracy: Critical and Post-modern Approaches
10. Hatred of Democracy
Dan Bousfield, Western University
11. Rethinking Democracy
Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Western University
Cameron D. Anderson is an associate professor in the Department of
Political Science at Western University.
Laura B. Stephenson is a professor in the Department of Political
Science at the University of Western Ontario.
"In What Is Democracy and How Do We Study It? Anderson and
Stephenson have brought together an array of scholars to provide
readers with a comprehensive overview of the varied approaches used
to study politics. The focus on the study of democracy as the
touchstone for the book is excellent, offering readers not only
ample exposure to a variety of methodologies, but also an important
set of questions in the process. I have no doubt this book will be
a great resource for our discipline, both within and outside of the
classroom."--Jason Roy, Associate Professor, Department of
Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University
"Anchoring discussions of research methodology on one theoretical
question, What Is Democracy and How Do We Study It? brings
something new to the field which many will welcome to help teach
research methodology." --Joanne Boucher, Professor, Department of
Political Science, University of Winnipeg
"A novel contribution, What Is Democracy and How Do We Study It? is
an improvement on mainstream methods books and will be a useful
accompaniment for methods-based courses." --Sanjay Jeram,
Undergraduate Program Chair and Senior Lecturer, Department of
Political Science, Simon Fraser University
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