Short-answer questions:
Answer 4 of the 5 questions below. Suggested use of time, in total, for all short-answer questions is 2 hours (weight: 50%).
S1) Gary Goertz argues that many social science concepts have a “three-level structure.” What does this mean, and more specifically what are the three levels? Illustrate your answer by considering a concept of your choice, but which is relevant to peace and conflict studies.
S2) In an ethnographic article on international boundaries a researcher writes: “my own emotional involvement gave me some empathy for what those who lived along the border were experiencing.” Why would this statement be relevant for the methods discussion of the article?
S3) Background: In 1974 Cyprus was partitioned. Population transfers ensured that the previously mixed populations of Greek and Turkish Cypriots were unmixed into a Turkish-Cypriot north and a Greek-Cypriot south. The extract below is from an interview conducted in 1990 with a Greek-Cypriot woman in her sixties, residing in a neighborhood in the south that was ethnically mixed before the partition. She was recalling the period before the partition.
Task: First, conduct an “initial coding” of the extract, as Kathy Charmaz would do when developing grounded theory [numbers are inserted in the extract for ease of reference]. Then, list 2–3 questions that arise from the coding, which a researcher might want to pursue when conducting and analyzing more interviews.
Glossary:
- “The Turks” = the Turkish population in Turkey;
- “our Turks” = the Turkish-Cypriot population;
[1] I am hyper-nationally conscious, I love Hellenism, my nation and anything to do with it moves me greatly. [2] This is my personal passion. [3] The Turks by contrast are simply barbarians. [4] Tell me what relation whatsoever they have with civilization. [5] We, by contrast…well, everyone knows that we created civilization. [6] But our Turks were different. [7] The Turks who are from Cyprus, our own Turks, the Cypriot Turks I mean. [8] They were very nice, and I know this first-hand because I used to live with them right here.
S4) What is the distinction between the way in which theory is applied in a “theory-guided case study” as opposed to a “hypothesis-testing case study”? Explain in brief and provide examples of both.
S5) Discuss by means of an example of your own choice 2–3 ways in which historical method may be used to test theories of international relations.
Long-answer questions:
Answer 1 of the 2 questions below. Suggested use of time for long-answer question is 2 hours (weight: 50%).
L1)
A researcher wants to investigate whether increased military expenditure in a state impacts on the probability of the state going to war with a neighboring state. The researcher initially wants to address this question by conducting an in-depth case study of one country (and this country’s relations with its neighbors).
- Discuss potential benefits related to doing one in-depth case study when investigating the question above, when contrasted with the alternative of doing five brief case studies of five different countries. You may assume that the researcher has the same amount of time and resources for both alternatives.
The researcher opts to study Germany in the decade before and during the outbreak of World War II, since Germany during that time period is a very good example of a country that both experienced increased military expenditure and interstate war. The researcher concludes the article related to her project with the following statement: “As my case study shows, increased military expenditure strongly increases the incentives for leaders to go to war with neighboring states.”
- Critically discuss the researcher’s conclusion in light of what you know of her research design, mainly focusing on what you consider to be the most important threat to her inference.
- A colleague of the researcher argues that the conclusion of her study is affected by omitted variable bias. What does omitted variable bias mean, and can you think of potential sources of omitted variable bias for this study? Further discuss what strategies the researcher could apply to mitigate the risk of omitted variable bias affecting her conclusions.
L2)
- Account for what John Gerring refers to as “spatial”, “longitudinal” and “dynamic” forms of comparison.
- Use the following research question to exemplify each of the three forms: “Do presidential regimes raise the risk of inter-state war compared with parliamentary regimes?” You are free to use either real-world or hypothetical examples.
- What are the main benefits and shortcomings with the “spatial” and “longitudinal” forms of comparison when the goal is to draw valid inferences about a causal relationship? Discuss with reference to what you have found in (b).