Topics in Sociological Analysis (476-0-21)
Topic
Case Study and Small-N Methods
Instructors
James L Mahoney
847/491-2626
Scott Hall, Room 402, Evanston Campus
Office Hours: http://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/james-mahoney.html
James Mahoney is a comparative-historical researcher with interests in socioeconomic development, political regimes, and methodology. His most recent books are Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective (2010) and Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power (2010; co-edited with Kathleen Thelen). He is also the author of The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America (2001) and co-editor of Comparative-Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (2003; with Dietrich Rueschemeyer). His article publications feature work on political and socioeconomic development in Latin America, path dependence in historical sociology, and causal inference in small-N analysis. Mahoney is a past President of the APSA Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, and he is Chair of the ASA Section for Comparative and Historical Sociology.
Meeting Info
Scott Hall 212: Fri 9:00AM - 11:50AM
Overview of class
"Small-N and Case Study Methods"
This seminar offers a broad and advanced introduction to the field of comparative and case study methodology. The emphasis is on what are conventionally regarded in political science as "qualitative" methods for the analysis of a relatively small number of cases. In sociology, this field is generally known as comparative-historical methodology. The course focuses on recent methodological writing, though a few classical pieces are also included. The readings are not specific to any substantive subfield in political science or sociology. The course assumes no prior background in qualitative methodology, but the material is advanced.
This course is taught with POLI_SCI 490-0
Registration Requirements
Enrollment in CHSS workshop this year or previous year.
Class Materials (Required)
Henry Brady and David Collier, eds., Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards, second ed. (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010).
Gary Goertz and James Mahoney, A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Sociology/MORS PhD Students