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4.8: Critical Thinking Problems

  • Page ID
    76198
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    Summary of Section 4.1: Correlation and Causation

    Causation and correlation are important to political science. Correlation establishes connections between ideas, actors, institutions, and processes while causation establishes a causal connection. Because connections are established does not mean that the connection is a causal one; correlation does not equal causation. Correlation is, however, one condition of causality along with logical time ordering, mechanism, and non-spuriousness. When these four conditions are met, a causal connection is possible.

    Summary of Section 4.2: Theory Construction

    A theory is an explanation of how the world works. It is a set of assumptions about constants, variables, and the relationship between variables. Generating a theory can occur in three ways: without referencing existing theory, extending an existing theory, or contradicting an existing theory. When creating a theory, researchers should remember that theories should be general, parsimonious and falsifiable.

    Summary of Section 4.3: Generating Hypotheses from Theories

    A hypothesis is an if-then statement that is derived from a theory. While a theory states that there is a relationship between two concepts or objects of interest, a hypothesis declares the values of the two concepts and how the change in the value of one affects the change in the value of the second object. Hypothesis should contain three elements: units of observation, a value of the independent variable, and a value of the dependent variable.

    Summary of Section 4.4: Exploring Variables

    Variables are objects that vary or change due to their inherent properties. They can be placed in two categories: discrete (values we can count) and continuous (values we can measure). Discrete values can be nominal or ordinal whereas continuous variables can be interval or ratio.

    Summary of Section 4.5: Units of Observation and Units of Analysis

    Political scientists observe a wide range of political objects; however, these objects do not have the same purpose. Some objects are units of observation and others are units of analysis. Units of observation are the objects that a researcher is specifically observing with the goal of describing the relationship between the objects. A unit of analysis is the object that a researcher is specifically analyzing.

    Summary of Section 4.6: Causal Modeling

    Causal modeling is the process of visualizing the relationships between concepts of interest. It allows us to “see” the relationships between objects of interest. It can also be useful in assisting researchers to consider the possibility of other relationships between concepts.


    This page titled 4.8: Critical Thinking Problems is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Josue Franco, Charlotte Lee, Kau Vue, Dino Bozonelos, Masahiro Omae, & Steven Cauchon (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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