Читать книгу Political Science For Dummies - Marcus A. Stadelmann - Страница 30

IN THIS CHAPTER

Discovering what it means to be a traditionalist

Understanding behavioralism

Taking a different approach with post-behavioralism

Creating and comparing political science theories

Checking out historical sociology and rational choice theory

Since its academic beginnings in the late 19th century, three major methodological schools of thought have dominated the discipline of political science; they are traditionalism, behavioralism, and post-behavioralism. This chapter looks at these three schools of thought in detail.

A methodology is a general research strategy used by a political scientist. It dictates how research is undertaken and how results can be interpreted. For example, a methodology determines how data is collected and analyzed.

In addition, political science uses theories to explain behaviors and events. The field of political science deals with three types of theories: grand, medium-range, and narrow-range theory. All of these are also covered in this chapter.