Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science [Paperback]

Stephen Van Evera (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 080148457X | ISBN-13: 978-0801484575 | Publication Date: September 1997

"Stephen Van Evera's Guide to Methods makes an important contribution toward improving the use of case studies for theory development and testing in the social sciences. His trenchant and concise views on issues ranging from epistemology to specific research techniques manage to convey not only the methods but the ethos of research. This book is essential reading for social science students at all levels who aspire to conduct rigorous research."--Alexander L. George, Stanford University, and Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University

"Van Evera has a keen awareness of the questions that arise in every phase of the political science research project--from initial conception to final presentation. Although others may not agree with all of his specific advice, all will appreciate his user-friendly introduction to what is sometimes seen as an abstract and difficult topic."--Timothy J. McKeown, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

For the last few years, Stephen Van Evera has greeted new graduate students at MIT with a commonsense introduction to qualitative methods in the social sciences. His helpful hints, always warmly received, grew from a handful of memos to an underground classic primer. That primer has now evolved into a book of how-to information about graduate study, which is essential reading for graduate students and undergraduates in political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, and history--and for their advisers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080148457X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801484575
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical guide to research/writing (and the arrows work), August 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science (Paperback)

Van Evera's book is simple, to be sure, but not simplistic; a prior reviewer's gibes at the notion of flow-charting a theory, with arrows, are a bit off the mark. As the reviewer notes, a theory designates a causal relationship. If so -- no matter what its other "good" points (parsimony, explanatory reach, etc) -- you can draw that causal relationship between the various independent variables and the dependent variable they help to explain. You can even draw it with arrows.

In general this book is recommended for 1st or 2nd year political science graduate students, and useful for advanced undergraduates (who will only care about the 1st 100 pages or so). It is clear and eminently practical. Other reviewers are right to imply there is little here in the way of philosophy of science in the broadest sense. But that merely makes this book a complement, not a substitute, to more esoteric explorations of the topic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zach, September 5, 2010

By 

Mooonshinefunk (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science (Paperback)

Only an undergraduate student so I'm probably not the best person to review methadology. In the first section, Van Evera gives a good general overview of the basics. The most thorough section is on case studies. This is very helpful as case studies are often ignored by most, though, as the author notes, can be very helpful especially for IR. The third section also discusses in some depth what a dissertation should look like. This is helpful for someone new to the field and (I assume) for someone undertaking this. Just to note, Van Evera is an IR scholar and a lot of his examples and such are taken from the IR field. I enjoyed this, as that's my area of study, but if your not you might find this annoying.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bible for qualitative studies, May 8, 2011

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svobodan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science (Paperback)

Some say that this book is not a guide to methods, or that it is certainly no model of sophistication. As such, I was skeptical about reading it, but once I did, I realized that Van Evera never does say that he will make the book for such a purpose. "I make no effort to cover the methodological waterfront." (p.1) As such, I think many reviews it receives are unmerited. Instead, I found this book very useful, even as a graduate student who has done many research methods already. Beauty of Van Evera's approach is that he offers an ESSENTIAL guide to those starting social science (I wish I had read this book when starting university), but even for older students, they can find practical advice on different issues, and clarification on topics that others don't explain as clearly (particularity in my previous class we had a big problem over defining 'method of agreement' vs. 'method of difference'). The book puts many complex topics in simplistic terms which helps keep thoughts organized. As such it is a necessary but not sufficient guide to methods for students of political science.