A Model Discipline: Political Science and the Logic of Representations

ISBN-13: 9780195382198 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 232 str.

Clarke, Kevin A.

Opis

In A Model Discipline, Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo turn a critical eye to the methodological approach that dominates modern political science. Clarke and Primo contend that the field's emphasis on model testing has led to a distortion of both the modeling process and the art of data analysis and cannot be logically justified. The authors argue that models should be seen as "objects" and thus regarded as neither true nor false. Models should instead be evaluated for their usefulness for a particular purpose. Divided into two parts, the book first establishes that current practice is not philosophy-free and rests on a number of questionable assumptions. The second part focuses on the different ways that theoretical and statistical models can be useful, and closes with a defensible justification for integrating theoretical and statistical models. A novel work of methodology, A Model Discipline offers a new perspective on long-held assumptions about the way research in the social sciences should be conducted.

Recenzje

This smart book proposes two things simultaneously for political scientists. First, we ought to have a consensus on what we should not do with our models, and that is we should not insist on testing them as models. But second, we also ought to allow for diversity in what our theoretical models can do, how they are judged, and how they are structured. They argue that models ought to be judged based on how useful they are. The same can be said for books-and this is a very useful book.

O autorze

Kevin A. Clarke is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. His research focuses on political methodology and model discrimination tests. Clarke's articles have appeared in American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, and many other journals. David M. Primo is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. His research focuses on American politics and political economy. Primo has authored or co-authored two books, The Plane Truth and Transportation Policy and Rules and Restraint, and many journal articles.