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Comparative Politics: The comparative method · Mill's Methods and Comparative Research Designs

How political scientists use Mill's methods, most similar and most different designs, and careful case selection to draw causal conclusions from a few countries.

Comparative Politics · 26 questions

Try 3 questions

1. What is the core purpose of the comparative method in political science?

  1. Comparing cases systematically to test causal claims
  2. Ranking countries by how democratic they are
  3. Describing a single country in rich detail
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Answer: Comparing cases systematically to test causal claims

Comparison lets researchers check whether a proposed cause is linked to an outcome across cases, much as an experiment would.

2. Arend Lijphart argued that comparison is political science's substitute for which scientific tool?

  1. Peer review of findings
  2. Long-term field observation
  3. The controlled experiment
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Answer: The controlled experiment

Since researchers cannot randomly assign constitutions or revolutions, they compare existing cases to hold some factors constant, approximating experimental control.

3. In John Stuart Mill's method of agreement, which cases are compared?

  1. Cases sharing an outcome, searched for a common factor
  2. Cases chosen at random from all countries
  3. Cases differing in outcome but alike otherwise
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Answer: Cases sharing an outcome, searched for a common factor

The method of agreement looks at cases that all show the outcome and asks which single circumstance they have in common.

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