Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science

Rating:
Summary: Practical as can be
Review: I am an International Relations graduate student and this book helped me a lot. It is a very concise and practical guide to students of social sciences in general. In it you will find how to define your variables, clear your arguments and write any kind of paper. The book became my inseparable companion. Mr. Van Evera also includes a curious chapter on professional ethics both for students and for teachers. If you are looking for something less technical and more practical, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Got Arrow Diagram?
Review: In this book Mr. Van Evera introduces the reader to the gospel of arrow diagraming, in which all political science theories must be drawn as letters, representing variables, with arrows (representing causality) connecting them. Thus, to quote Van Evera, "a theory that cannot be arrow-diagrammed is not a theory and needs reframing to become a theory." Thus, by his measure, much of the poli sci "theories" are not theories at all. So what are GOOD theories, for van Evera, besides those that are easily arrow-diagramed?

Theories are general statements that describe and explain the causes or effects of classes of phenomena. They are composed of causal laws or hypotheses, explanations, and antecedent conditions. Explanations are also composed of causal laws or hypotheses, which are in turn composed of dependent and independent variables. A good theory has 7 characteristics: it has large explanatory power (importance, explanatory range, applicability), and is parsimonious, satisfying, clearly framed, falsifiable, explains important phenomena, and has "prescriptive richness."

In short, the book might teach newbies a thing or two about methodological rigor and research design, but is certainly no model of sophistication. In fact, the book is a perfect example of why American political "science" is sometimes mocked by the rest of the academic world.

Rating:
Summary: Practical guide to research/writing (and the arrows work)
Review: 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.