Research Papers on Political Science. Political science is the study of governments, systems, political processes, public policies and political behavior. Students and professional related to the field of political science prepare research papers on this subject. Writing a research papers is a challenging task which many people consider difficult · Political science research paper format includes five major sections: Introduction. Present your case. Explain why your research work is important, what are the key terms, and what to expect in the next chapters of your paper. Be brief yet specific. Lit review/Theory. Connect your subject to the existing knowledge in the case · A research paper is not just to air your opinion but to give your well-structured and informed opinion backed up with evidence and analysis. In political science, conceptual questions do not have a final answer; the purpose of your research is to address an issue and bring up a particular viewpoint. Here a few guidelines on how to write your analysis
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Within the discipline of political science in the United States, traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism are three distinct political science research approaches.
These three approaches represent different points of emphasis regarding the ways in which research about politics should proceed. For example, it will be seen that traditionalism—in comparison with behavioralism—tends to emphasize the usefulness of analyzing governmental institutions when studying political phenomena, whereas behavioralism tends to assert the importance of research into the intricacies of the behavior of individual political actors e.
However, all three research perspectives share the belief that political science research should produce explanations that improve and deepen our understanding of complex political processes, political science research paper outline. As one begins to analyze the meaning and complexity of traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism, political science research paper outline, it is important to keep in mind three points.
First, traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism are broad categories, and within each category one finds a variety of political scientists who are not necessarily in agreement on all matters relating to the study of politics. For example, political science research paper outline, during the years in which traditionalism was the prevailing research approach within political science, Woodrow Wilson delivered an address to the American Political Science Association APSA that called into dispute various claims made by previous APSA president James Bryce.
InBryce had stated that political science, that is, a scientific understanding of politics, political science research paper outline, was possible insofar as human actions tended to be similar, or repeatable, over time; thus, Bryce reasoned, one could generalize about patterns of human activity and draw conclusions about political life.
Wilsonhowever, while not altogether denying the existence of some degree of patterned activity over time, stressed the uniqueness characterizing human beings and human actions. Despite these differences, both Bryce and Wilson were representative of traditionalist political science. Second, traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism are often linked with certain decades in the development of political science in the United States. Traditionalism is usually associated with the political science practiced during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Behavioralism is generally associated with the post-World War II period, although its origins are sometimes traced back to the s. It political science research paper outline important to realize, political science research paper outline, however, that these historical markers are best used as general designations, because the development of these three research approaches was too multifaceted and complex to fit neatly into rigid time categories.
The emergence of a new approach did not necessarily completely or entirely displace an older one; for example, while traditionalism was challenged by behavioralism in the s and s, a number of political scientists continued to hold to traditionalism. Indeed, many contemporary introductory textbooks in U. politics continue to reflect the perspective of traditionalist political science. Moreover, not all subfields of political science research paper outline science were political science research paper outline equally or simultaneously by the emergence of a new approach.
For instance, the subfield of U. politics incorporated the behavioralist approach earlier than did the subfields of international relations and comparative politics Sigelman, Third, two of the three research approaches have tended to define themselves in opposition to their predecessors and, in so doing, have helped shape the manner in which those prior approaches have been remembered.
Specifically, behavioralism defined itself in opposition to what it understood as constituting traditionalism, and post-behavioralism carved out its own identity, in part, as a critique of what it saw as the defining elements political science research paper outline behavioralism. As a result, one sees that the emergence of the newer approaches was coupled with a rejection of perceived deficiencies in the earlier approaches.
In identifying what they saw as inadequacies in the older approaches, the newer approaches tended to highlight differences between the new and the old and, in some cases, tended to understate any similarities.
For example, behavioralism emphasized its adherence to scientific method and, in so doing, sometimes gave the impression that that which it was attempting to replace—traditionalism—had not regarded itself as scientific. As becomes clear when one analyzes the actual writings of traditionalists, however, traditionalists generally saw themselves as political scientists and often made much of the fact that, as political scientists, they were not to be confused with historians Farr, ; Gunnell, As early asan APSA president was calling on the discipline to employ statistical analyses to identify political patterns and test conclusions relating thereto Lowell, Similarly, postbehavioralists, it will be seen in the discussion below, emphasized the importance of producing research that was relevant in addressing contemporary questions, but, in stressing their own newness relative to behavioralists, political science research paper outline, postbehavioralists often tended to understate the extent to which earlyth-century political scientists had also sought to use political science research paper outline science research to address urgent, relevant problems in U.
life Gunnell, Traditionalism is an approach defined by its focus on the study of political institutions, law, or a combination of these. In addition, traditionalism locates its scientific reliability in its grounding in careful historical or legal investigations that are designed to produce thorough descriptions of the subject in question Easton, ; Fried, ; Isaak, ; Macridis, A traditionalist seeking to understand how the U.
Congress works would, thus, investigate such questions as what the law e. Constitution provides for in terms of congressional powers and limits, how Congress as an institution has evolved historically, and how Congress as an institution fits into the larger institutional network of the U.
government in its entirety. A traditionalist seeking to understand courts could follow a similar strategy of pursuing historical questions e.
A traditionalist in the field of international relations might study international law or national laws and treaties relating to interstate interactions i. Traditionalist political science has not been an approach that has demanded narrow or exclusive disciplinary specialization. On the contrary, early traditionalist political scientists needed to be comfortable with such fields as history or law in order to pursue their work.
Traditionalist political scientists tended to be explicit in drawing connections between political science research and service to the public interest, in whatever manner the latter might be defined by the political scientist in question. For a fuller, more detailed understanding of traditionalism, one can look in greater depth at two examples of traditionalist political science, political science research paper outline.
Setting out to construct a technically detailed definition of the discipline per se, Goodnow contended, was not as productive an enterprise as determining what the discipline should have as its focus of research. Political scientists were neither the first nor the exclusive researchers of political science research paper outline, Goodnow explained, but were, political science research paper outline, rather, unique in targeting the state as a primary subject for analysis.
For example, historians might study historical states and might indirectly study contemporary states, Goodnow reasoned, and economists might investigate monetary matters relating to states. Goodnow was, in this address, identifying himself as a political scientist as opposed to a historian, even while his approach to political science would employ historical perspectives. Moreover, in identifying the institution of the state as opposed to the behavior of individuals, for example as the central and defining subject matter of political science, Goodnow was conveying what is generally termed the traditionalist orientation toward institutionalism.
Second, Goodnow framed the study of states— and thus political science as a discipline—broadly. Political values influenced state policies or will. He pointed to the benefits of studying the history of English poor laws as a guide for improving public administration generally. Finally, Goodnow closed his address by expressing hope that political science could contribute to the public good.
He identified teachers and political practitioners as two groups that could benefit directly from the knowledge produced by the disciple. Moreover, in disseminating a more descriptively accurate and comprehensive understanding of states, teachers and practitioners, in their respective professional roles, could contribute to an enhanced public well-being.
Although better known as the 28th president of the United States, Wilson also served as president of APSA and, in this latter capacity, argued against a narrow, specialized conception of political science.
In fact, at one point in his address, he went so far as to assert that he disliked the name political science, which, he claimed, implied that human interactions should be studied objectively and narrowly. In turning attention to the study of political actors, many behavioralists employed survey research to compare the attitudes of voters versus nonvoters, elites versus non-elites, partisan identifiers versus independents, or other subunits of populations.
Students of congressional politics could enlist behavioral approaches to shift research away from the analysis of the institutional history of legislatures to an political science research paper outline investigation of the actual behaviors of congressional officeholders, staff, or congressional committee members. Behavioralists were interested, for example, in whether members of Congress spent greater time and devoted greater resources to the actual drafting of legislation or to responding to constituency demands, campaigning for the next election, or interacting with lobbyists.
Robert Dahl traced the origins of this approach to the s and to the work of Charles Merriman and the so-called Chicago School of Harold Lasswell, Gabriel Almond, V. Key, and David Truman.
During the post-World War II behavioralist period, political science research paper outline, publications in the American Political Science Review APSR became increasingly oriented toward statistical analyses of public opinion and behavior, especially in the subfields of U.
politics and comparative politics Sigelman, As the title of his article suggested, McClosky was interested in the extent to which consensus, or broad agreement, on political values existed in the United States.
Although he opened his article with a brief overview of Tocquevillean comments on democratic culture and customs, McClosky framed his analysis around the investigation of specific hypotheses relating to the attitudes of political actors, in this case, actors grouped into two subunits of the U.
McClosky hypothesized that the U. public was not uniform in its political views, that it was more supportive of democracy in the abstract than in particular cases, and that political elites those whom he called influentials were more supportive of democracy than non-elites were.
McClosky divided the U. population into two groups: the influentials and the general electorate. The influentials were individuals who had been delegates or alternates at the major party conventions inand the general electorate was simply the population at large. McClosky used survey research to measure the attitudes of both groups. Political science research paper outline respect to the influentials, a sample of more than 3, members of the delegates and alternates at the Democratic and Republican conventions was surveyed.
With respect to the general population, McClosky used a national sample of 1, adults. McClosky found greater degrees of consensus for democratic procedures among influentials than among the public at large.
These items included statements that respondents were asked to register agreement or disagreement with and consisted of statements about whether a citizen could be justified in acting outside the law, whether majorities had an obligation to respect minorities, whether the means were as important as the ends in the pursuit of political outcomes, whether the use of force was ever justified as a political strategy, and whether voting rights should be expansive or curtailed.
Survey results demonstrated, McClosky reported, that influentials expressed consensus on most of the 12 items, whereas the general electorate expressed consensus on none of the 12 items. McClosky proceeded to report that, while both influentials and the general population exhibited broader support for freedom of speech when asked about this freedom in the abstract than when asked about freedom of speech for specific unpopular groups, influentials were more supportive than the general population of free speech for unpopular groups.
For example, support for the rights of Communists, political science research paper outline, of persons accused of treason, and of convicted criminals was higher among the influentials than among the general population, political science research paper outline. Furthermore, McClosky reported greater consensus among influentials on the importance of the democratic value of freedom than on the democratic value of equality.
In fact, McClosky reported the absence of consensus among both influentials and the general electorate on the matter of whether all people were equal, as well as on questions relating to whether all people should be accorded equality.
In other words, on political science research paper outline relating to whether most people can make responsible decisions in governing themselves political equalitywhether different ethnic groups are equal social equalityor political science research paper outline all people have an equal claim to have a good job and a decent home economic equalityconsensus was absent. McClosky also sought to measure what he understood as ideological clarity and the ability to identify oneself accurately along ideological lines.
In evaluating survey participants in terms of their responses to particular statements relating to liberal versus conservative issues and their adoption of ideological markers liberal vs.
conservativehe found that influentials were more accurate than the general population in naming themselves as liberals or conservatives and in identifying a position as liberal or conservative. McClosky closed his article with six summarizing generalizations. First, elites influentials were different from non-elites in terms of a greater elite support for democratic processes and a more complete understanding of political ideology. Second, a comparison of the education and economic circumstances of the two groups suggested possible and testable reasons for the differences in attitudes demarcating the two groups.
Third, the level of support for democracy among U. elites was problematic on some issues e. Fourth, in spite of problematic levels of attitudinal support for democratic values, the U. system of Republican-Democratic politics appeared stable, a result, in part, of the nonparticipation of non-democracy-supporting non-elites.
Fifth, classic accounts of democracy are inaccurate when claiming that the acceptance of democratic ideas is essential for the survival of democracy. Sixth, although McClosky advised political scientists against becoming sanguine about the lack of support for democratic processes among the population at large, he shared his hope for a wider disbursement of democratic values among segments of the U.
population as the country continued to promote educational and scientific advancements. First, behavior was understood by behavioralists like McClosky broadly enough to encompass opinions and attitudes.
My Step by Step Guide to Writing a Research Paper
, time: 9:15How to Write a Political Science Research Paper
· A research paper is not just to air your opinion but to give your well-structured and informed opinion backed up with evidence and analysis. In political science, conceptual questions do not have a final answer; the purpose of your research is to address an issue and bring up a particular viewpoint. Here a few guidelines on how to write your analysis researching your material, you will answer your research question. The answer to your research question will form the basis of your thesis. The thesis is the argument that you will make in your paper. Presenting your answer to the research question is the reason why you write the paper. You Research Papers on Political Science. Political science is the study of governments, systems, political processes, public policies and political behavior. Students and professional related to the field of political science prepare research papers on this subject. Writing a research papers is a challenging task which many people consider difficult
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