Harvard Extension School, Spring 2012SSCI S-100b Graduate Research Methods and

Scholarly Writing in the Social Sciences: Government and History

Joe Bond

Class 6

March 5, 2012

• Literature Reviews• Case Studies• Discuss Readings: Mifue & Shaun• 6th In-Class Writing Assignment

Facilitators – 3/19/2012

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Literature Review

• Lit reviews are guided by one or more general questions

• By the time you are finished with your review, you will have the answer to your question(s)

• You will also emerge with one or more unanswered questions

• These questions will [hopefully] serve as the focal point of your ALM thesis proposal [your final paper]

How many sources? It depends.

We know a lot

We know less

Little is known

Discipline X

Discipline Y

Discipline Z

Universe

Begin with a dozen sources, if possible• Try not to cite everything under the sun related to your

topic• Start broad and shoot for specificity as your review

progresses• If little is known, branch out (e.g. interdisciplinary)• If the topic/question has been thoroughly investigated, go

for more specificity• Try to stick with “scholarly” books and refereed journal

articles• While internet sources are fine for ideas, try to cite a

hardcopy or e-journal, if available (e.g. some online reports are also available in hardcopy; UN documents).

• Do not cite an internet source that refers to someone else’s study; rather, cite the study.

A “Researchable” Topic

• In the Extension School, just about anything is fair game as long as you can weave in a political and/or historical dimension broadly defined

• Most ALM theses proposals start out overly ambitious

• DO NOT CHOOSE A TOPIC BASED ON WHAT YOU THINK WILL MAXIMIZE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING A PARTICULAR FACULTY MEMBER TO SERVE AS YOUR ADVISOR

• If it doesn’t interest you, you will never finish

Should I bother?

• A research topic should add to the pool of research knowledge available on the topic (build up on existing research)

• Question to ask:– Does the study address a topic that has yet to be examined,

extend the discussion by incorporating new elements, or replicate a study in new situations or with new participants?

• Is the topic salient? Does it appeal to a broad audience? Is the topic timely? Is the topic non-trivial?

Purpose of a Literature Review1. To share with the reader the results of other

studies that are closely related to an area of interest

2. Relate your research to the larger ongoing dialogue in the literature, filling gaps and extending prior studies

3. Provide a framework for establishing the importance of your study with other findings

SYNTHESIS IS KEY

What it is NOT• The literature review is not the place to analyze your

research questions (those adopting an historical approach are susceptible to falling into this trap)

• It should only review what has already been reported

• By the time that you finish your literature review, you may find that your preliminary questions have already been addressed by others but additional, more interesting questions have been left unanswered

A Lit Review IS NOT an Annotated Bibliography

This is an annotated bibliography and yes, it is 204 pages long:

http://www.teachingterror.com/bibliography/CTC_Bibliography_2004.pdf

# 1

• Identify key words useful in locating materials using Hollis, for example

• Key words may help you identify a suitable topic of interest and will assist you in finding preliminary books in the library or e-journals

# 2

• Focus initially on refereed journals and books

• Search databases typically reviewed by social science researchers include ERIC (http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal), the Social Science Citation Index, etc.

The Social Sciences Citation Index

• Covers 1969 through the present• Available in most academic libraries• Covers 5700+ journals that represent virtually every

discipline in the social sciences• Useful in locating studies that have referenced an

important study• Allows the user to “trace” all studies since

publication of a “key” study that contain the cited work.

• Allows the user to develop a chronological list of references that document the historical evolution of an idea or a study

# 3• Locate a dozen books, journal articles, reports,

etc. related to your topic

• Avoid shortcuts! Start now! Reading material on the web may be convenient but it is rarely adequate

• Start with the most recent publications and work backwards

# 4• Identify an initial group of books and articles

that are central to your topic• Review abstracts and skim the articles or

chapters (particularly the first and last sections/chapters)

• Get a sense of whether the article or chapter will make a useful contribution to your understanding of the literature

• Don’t reinvent the wheel!• Use the bibliographic information (i.e.

references) contained in the articles and books to extend your search

Abstracting StudiesA Good literature review summary might include the following:

1. Mention the problem being addressed.2. State the central purpose of focus of the study.3. State the underlying assumptions.4. Briefly state information about the sample,

population, or participants.5. Review the key results.6. Point out any technical or methodological flaws.7. Be sure to jot down full citations even if you do not

ultimately incorporate the piece into your review8. Reading “Doing a Literature Review” article

Questions?

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Case Studies

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What is a Case Study?

• A definitional morass– Qualitative method, small-N (Yin, 1994)– Ethnographic, clinical, participant-observation, or

otherwise “in the field” (Yin, 1994)– Characterized by process-tracing (George & Bennett,

2004)– Investigates the properties of a single case (Campbell

& Stanley, 1963)– Investigates a single phenomenon, instance or

example (the most common usage)

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Definition

• A case study is an intensive study of a single unit for the purpose of understanding a larger class of (similar) units (Gerring, 2004)

• A unit connotes a spatially bounded phenomenon (e.g. a nation-state, revolution, political party, election, or person – observed at a single point in time or over some delimited period of time.

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Nested Definitions

• A population is comprised of a sample (studied cases), as well as unstudied cases

• A sample is comprised of several units, and each unit is observed at discrete points in time, comprising cases

• A case is comprised of several relevant dimensions (variables), each of which is built upon an observation or observations

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Case Study as a Dataset

• Observations as cells• Variables as columns• Cases as rows• Units as either groups of

cases or individual cases

Cases V1 V2 V3

Case 1 Obs1 Obs2 Obs3

Case 2 Obs1 Obs2 Obs3

Case 3 Obs1 Obs2 Obs3

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Important!

• All these aforementioned terms are definable only by reference to a particular proposition and a corresponding research design

• A country may function as a case, a unit, a population or a case study

• It all depends• In a typical cross-country time series regression analysis, units

are countries, cases are country-years, and observations are collected for each case on a range of variables

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Three Types of Case Studies

• Type I Case Studies: look at variation in a single unit over time, thus preserving the primary unit of analysis

• Spatial Variation: None (1 unit)• Temporal Variation: Yes

• American Revolution (before, during, after)

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Three Types of Case Studies, Continued

• Type II Case Studies: break down the primary unit of analysis into subunits, which are the subjected to variation analysis synchronically (i.e. one point in time)

• Spatial Variation: Within-unit• Temporal Variation: No• American Revolution (perspectives of the N. &

S.)

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Three Types of Case Studies, Continued

• Type III Case Studies: break down the primary unit of analysis into subunits, which are the subjected to variation analysis synchronically & diachronically (i.e. over time)

• Spatial Variation: Within-unit• Temporal Variation: Yes

• American Revolution (perspectives of the S & N before, during and after)

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Three Types of Case Studies, Continued

• Type I, Type II, and Type III case studies are the three logically conceivable approaches to the study of a single unit where that unit is viewed as an instance of some broader phenomenon

• Consequently, where one refers to the case study method, one is referring to three possible methods, each with a different menu of variational evidence

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The N Question

• N = number of cases• The number of cases employed by a case

study may be small or large• Consequently, may be evaluated in a

qualitative or quantitative fashion

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Example: The French Revolution

• N = 1 case (France)• Broaden the analysis to include a second

revolution (e.g. American Revolution), N = 2 cases

• Represents a gross distortion of what is really going on!

• More correct to describe such a study as comprising two units, rather than two cases because a case study of a single event generally examines that event over time

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Example: The French Revolution

• France is observed before, during, and after the event to see what changed and what remained the same after the revolution

• Creates multiple cases (N) out of a single unit (French Revolution)

• N = 2, at the very least (e.g. before & after a revolution), in a case study of Type I– Spatial Variation: None (1 unit)– Temporal Variation: Yes

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French Revolution as a Single Point in Time

• No temporal variation – studied at a single point in time – the object of investigation – are there patterns of variation within that unit or a case study of Type II

• Within-unit cases consists of all cases that lie at a lower level of analysis relative to the inference under investigation

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Important!

• If the primary unit of analysis is the nation-state (e.g. France), then within-unit cases might be constructed from provinces, localities, groups or individuals

• Unit-of-analysis = French Revolution• Cases = sub-national entities, groups or

individuals• The possibilities for within-unit analysis are, in

principle, infinite

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Relevance

• Counterintuitive: Many Type II case studies have a larger N than cross-sectional time series analysis

• Why?• Assume that your time series’ unit-of-analysis is comprised of

country-revolution-years (how many are there?)• Assume that your Type II case study unit-of-analysis is the

French Revolution and your cases represent individuals (a hundred or so)

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Type III Case Studies

• Type II case studies involve spatial variation (within-unit) but no temporal variation

• Type III cases studies involve both spatial and temporal variation, thus the potential N increases accordingly

• Type III cases studies are probably the most common genre of case study analysis

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Summary

1. Case studies usually perform a double function; they are studies of the unit itself and they are studies of a broader class of units

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Strengths of Case Studies1. Case studies are more useful when inferences are

descriptive rather than causal2. When propositional depth is prized over breadth and

boundedness3. When (internal) case comparability is give precedence over

(external) case representativeness4. When the strategy of research is exploratory, rather than

confirmatory5. When the useful variance is available for only a single unit

or smaller number of units

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Group Exercise

1. Break into 3 groups2. Come up with examples for each of the

three case study types (i.e. I, II, and III)3. For each Type, draw an illustration on the

board representing temporal and spatial variation

Facilitation Articles

• The Challenge of High and Rising Food Prices• The Future of American Power: Dominance

and Decline in Perspective

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In-Class Writing Exercise 6• Third in-class writing exercise -- refer to 60 minutes video

& handout Evidence of Injustice: • Identify where science failed justice with respect to the

faulty evidence used to wrongly convict numerous people over the past three decades. As a student of social science, propose realistic safeguards (e.g. it should not involve something like a constitutional amendment) to prevent this kind of travesty of justice from happening again. Please use only the reverse side of this sheet for your response.

• http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=%22Evidence+of+Injustice%22&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-yie8&tnr=21&vid=0001333210215

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