| Kurzkommentar |
The seminar is for BGSS- and advanced master students. It deals with basic conceptual questions and the logics of social science methods. The course is an introduction into comparative methods and deals with logical issues of comparison, the role of theory and social science concepts. Concepts are the intermediaries between the empirical world (data) and analysis. Concepts make theories operational for research. The structure of concepts, concept clarity, and concept-measurement consistency are crucial for any analysis. Methodological issues will be discussed in a logical, partly formalized way. Secondly, the course introduces into classical and new approaches to comparative logic and analysis. It deals with Mill’s classical approaches of method of agreement and difference, Przeworski’s most similar and most different system designs, and their critics.
Topics include:
Theory and Empirics: Social Science Concepts and the role of theory
Comparative Logic and comparison
Causality: Probabilistic vs. deterministic
Qualitative vs. quantitative research
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