Unified Session

Sunday, June 15

Jim Mahoney (Northwestern University), Jaye Seawright (Northwestern University), and Lisa Wedeen (University of Chicago), with Sebastian Karcher (Syracuse University) and Diana Kapiszewski (Georgetown University)

These “Unified Sessions,” which all IQMR participants attend, welcome them to the Institute and introduce some of its intellectual foci. Three faculty who have taught at IQMR since its inception will consider the epistemological diversity that underpins qualitative and multi-method research, consider some of the core methods used by scholars in the QMMR community, and think about ways that qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined. The sessions serve as general introductions to various of the module sequences that participants can take at IQMR.

9:00am – 9:45am – Introduction

Diana Kapiszewski and Sebastian Karcher

This session considers IQMR’s history and how it has evolved, considers the overall themes and emphases of instructions, and discusses the Institute’s intellectual and sociological goals. The session also considers key points of the Institute’s administration and logistics, and offers participants some suggestions for how they might think about, and orient themselves with regard to, their two weeks at IQMR.

Required readings:

David Waldner’s piece on positivism vs. interpretivism?

9:45am - 10:45am – Classic Qualitative Methodology

Jim Mahoney

This session provides an introduction to the field of case-based methodology in political science and sociology. The topics considered include concept formation, process tracing, and small-N comparison. The session serves as a gateway for various subsequent modules related to classic qualitative methods.

Required readings:

James Mahoney, “After KKV: The New Methodology of Qualitative Research,” World Politics 62:1 (January 2010), pp. 120-147.

Coffee Break – 10:45am – 11:15am

11:15am – 12.15pm Multi-Method Research and Causal Identification

Jaye Seawright

This session asks how qualitatively- and mixed-method oriented researchers ought to relate with the large, even hegemonic, quantitative and statistical literatures on causal inference. We will discuss the potential outcomes framework for causation, qualitative ideas about causation, and questions of compatibility and incommensurability. We will then consider the way that knowledge claims within the quantitative causal inference framework are grounded on statements about cases, contexts, processes, etc., and how these statements open the door to productive dialogue, collaboration, and critique between findings from different methodological traditions.

Required readings:

Freedman, David A. “Statistical models and shoe leather.” Sociological methodology (1991): 291-313.
Seawright, Jason. (2016) Better Multimethod Design: The Promise of Integrative Multimethod Research Security Studies 25(1): 42-49 https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2016.1134187

2:15pm - 3:30pm – The Interpretive Approach to Qualitative Research

Lisa Wedeen

This session introduces students to interpretive methods. “Interpretive social science” is a rubric that refers to a variety of epistemological, methodological, and political commitments. This session helps us understand what interpretive social science involves and grapples with one of its key concepts, “culture.” It demonstrates how notions of political culture (now revitalized in formal theory and causal inference research) remain problematic and how the turn to Geertz among some political scientists is similarly inadequate. The session concludes by showcasing ways to operationalize a practice-oriented version of “culture.” .

Required readings:

Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. In The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz. Basic Books. Chapter 1, 3-30. (ebook pdf is available at SU library)
Foucault, M. (1991) Questions of Method. In Foucault, M., Burchell, G., Gordon, C., & Miller, P. (1991), The Foucault Effect: Studies in governmentality. University of Chicago Press, Chapter 3, 73-86.

4:00pm - 5:15pm – Roundtable

Jim Mahoney, Jaye Seawright, Lisa Wedeen

The final part of these “Unified Sessions” has no formal lecture component and no assigned readings. Participants are encouraged to ask questions – those they have long had, and those that have occurred to them through the day’s sessions – and to debate and discuss (with each other and with the instructors) the points raised and the future directions of qualitative and multi-method inquiry.