The Internet and Politics

Agenda for Today Lab scheduling

Comparative Politics methodology

Web guide assignment

Web site and bulletin board overview

The Internet and Politics

Lab Scheduling Labs meet on alternate Thursdays

on Lab days, there is no lecture -- come to lab instead of going to lecture

Lab dates: Jan. 17, Jan. 31, Feb 14, March 7, March 21, April 4

1pm lab: B1114 (30 pcs)

2pm lab: B111 (24 pcs)

lab section lists will be posted online

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Comparative Politics Goals for our discussion:

understand causal analysis

understand key political science terms

learn to identify causal arguments in the texts we read in this class

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Comparative Politics What makes it “comparative”?

We compare:

countries: Canada vs. Britain

cities: Toronto vs. Vancouver

government agencies: Foreign Affairs vs. Treasury

non-profit organizations: Greenpeace vs. Earthwatch

…if we have 2 or more COMPARABLE CASES, we can compare them.

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What is comparable? How do we know whether are cases are

comparable?

classification -- typologies

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Why compare? Goal: inference

“Using the facts we know to learn something about facts we do not know” (King, Keohane & Verba in Designing Social Inquiry)

usually: causal inference

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Causal ArgumentComponents:

hypothesis

independent variable

dependent variable

causal relationship

research method

unit of analysis

observation

case

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Stanford Internet StudyComponents:

Hypothesis “the more hours people use the Internet, the less time

they spend with human beings”

independent variable amount of time individuals spend online

dependent variable amount of time individuals spend in face-to-face

interaction

causal relationship time online displaces time spent face-to-face

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Stanford Internet Study (2)

Components:

research method Quantitative - survey research

unit of analysis individuals and households

Observation Individual response to questionnaire

Case U.S.A.

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Issues in research design

Questions to ask:

Is the independent variable really independent? (endogeneity problem)

Are we observing causation or correlation?

Is the case selection random or biased?

Are there enough cases or observations?

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Political “Science”?“Accumulation of knowledge about empirical world as

systematic process of inquiry,” including: systematic collection of evidence generation and testing of hypotheses drawing of substantive inferences

The Internet and Politics

Web guide assignmentYour paper should:

Be on a topic or sub-topic that is directly relevant to the week’s readings.

Identify 3-6 web sites that are in some way relevant to the week’s readings

Make an overarching argument about a pattern or difference you found in the sites you visited.

Support your overarching argument with short (1-2 paragraph) descriptions of each of the sites you identified.