FOUNDATION AND FRAMEWORK OF POLITICAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

MAPS 600
ASSIGNMENT
PROFESSOR: Ms. JIAH SAYSON
STUDENT: CHARLENE ANDREO
EXERCISES:
1. Pick another subject in which you have taken a course and heard mention of scientific
theories. How is political science similar to and different from that subject?

Answer:
Forensic Science. This course is similar to Political Science because it also uses scientific
methods and processes in solving crimes. Before a crime is solved, a thorough an
investigation is done and forensic science helps not only the defense’s argument but
also the arguments of the prosecution because it gives objective/unbiased facts about
the case through scientific knowledge or methods used. However, it is also different
with Political Science in some ways. For Political scientists, facts on which scientific
method are based usual change depending on the results when we conduct empirical
tests in our hypotheses. Since political phenomena is ever changing, it also follows that
what’s happening in the real world is also changing. In forensic science, once it is an
established fact through scientific methods, it likely stays that why.

2. Think about something in the political world that you would like to better understand.
Try to think about this as a variable with high and low values. This is your dependent
variable at the conceptual level. Now think about what might cause the values of your
dependent variable to be higher or lower. Try to phrase this in terms of an independent
variable, also at the conceptual level. Write a paragraph about these two variables and
your theory about why they are causally related to each other.

Answer:
-Women in Politics in the Philippines.
“The prevailing patriarchal norms and values of voters cause the slow increase of
women’s representation in politics.”

It has always been presumed by many, way back in ancient Athens, that politics
is more the realm of men than women. Men mostly viewed women as weak, emotional
and indecisive and more suited domestically.
Women, nowadays, are more educated and well-oriented to what is happening
in reality. Thus, having their own opinions and solutions, they’re slowly entering the
realm of politics.
In the Philippines, there are still people believing the thought that men are
better politicians than women and that they have more conviction. This line of thinking
hampers the chance of women in politics. Gender should not be an issue.
The two variables are casually related to each other because the norms and
values of the voters greatly affect the results of the election in the Philippines, thus
limiting the number of women representation in politics.

3. Identify something in the world that you would like to see happen (normative). What
scientific knowledge (empirical and causal) would help you to pursue this goal?

Answer:
If some people are calling for one Korea, what I would like to happen is to have a
unified Philippines. This mostly refers to our own civil war which has been happening for
a long time.
 In pursuing this goal, developing the casual theory first is needed. We need to
know the real reason as to why terrorist groups such as Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), New People’s Army
(NPA and other associated groups were formed and what were their main goal, reasons
and beliefs that led them to opposing the government. When this theory is already
established, we can now apply/compare what is really happening in the present.
Questions like “Are their actions still related to their main goal when they founded their
different groups?” or “Do they still act in accordance to their main goal or are they
deviating to another belief?”

4. The 1992 US presidential election, in which challenger Bill Clinton defeated incumbent
George H. W. Bush, has often been remembered as the “It’s the economy, stupid,”
election. How can we restate the causal statement that embodies this conventional
wisdom – “Clinton beat Bush because the economy had performed poorly” – into a
more general theoretical statement?

Answer:
In this statement – “Clinton beat Bush because the economy had performed
poorly” - we need to identify what is the independent variable and the dependent
variable to be able to come up with a general theoretical statement. Economic
performance is the independent variable and the outcome of the presidential election is
the dependent variable. So we can say:
“Poor economic performance caused the outcome of the 1992 US presidential election.”

For Exercises 5 and 6, consider the following statement about the world: “If you care about economic
success in a country, you should also care about the peoples’ political rights in that country. In a society in
which people have more political rights, the victims of corrupt business practices will work through the
system to get things corrected. As a result, countries in which people have more political rights will have
less corruption. In countries in which there is less corruption, there will be more economic investment and
more economic success.”

5. Identify at least two causal claims that have been made in the preceding statement. For
each causal claim, identify which variable is the independent variable and which variable
is the dependent variable. These causal claims should be stated in terms of one of the
following types of phrases in which the first blank should be filled by the independent
variable and the second blank should be filled by the dependent variable:

Answer:
“Less corruption causes higher economic success.”
“Higher political rights given to the people causes lower corruption.”
6.
100

90

80 *
Economic Success

70

60

50
40

30

20

10
*
0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
corruption
 100

90
80
70 *
corruption

60
50

40
30

20
10 *
0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Political Rights

7. Find an article in a political science journal that contains a model of politics. Provide the
citation to the article, and answer the following questions:
(a) What is the dependent variable?
(b) What is one of the independent variables?
(c) What is the causal theory that connects the independent variable to the dependent
variable? (d) Does this seem reasonable?

Answer:
The Politics of “Public Opinion” in the Philippines
-Eva-Lotta E. Hedman (December,2010)

a. Philippine election as the dependent variable.

b. Public opinion as the independent variable.
c. As stated in the journal, the institutionalization of “polling” as a familiar and
widespread practice has encouraged developments in political marketing and
“political branding” by candidates and their handlers, while producing bandwagon
effects among local politicians who were eager for affiliation with those presidential
and senatorial candidates most likely to win national office.
d. Yes, it seems reasonable and also apparent to what is actually happening today.
There are even candidates who would go as far as manipulating polls and surveys
just to affect public opinion and would eventually result to success during election.

8. For each of the following statements, identify which, if any, rule(s) of the road to
scientific knowledge about politics has been violated:
(a) This study of the relationship between economic development and the level of
autocracy is important because dictatorships are bad and we need to understand how
to get rid of them.
(b) Did the European financial crisis of 2012 cause Nicolas Sarkozy to lose the
subsequent French presidential election?
(c) It’s just logical that poverty causes crime.
(d) This correlation supports the theory that bad weather drives down voter turnout.

Answer:
a. The statement violates the rule that states: Avoid normative statements. The
opinion of the writer stating that “dictatorships are bad” would likely affect the
scientific findings because of his bias views as apparent in the statement itself.
b. Ok
 c. This violates the second rule that states: Don’t let data alone drive your theories.
The statement conveys an observation of the theory even before the conduct some
hypothesis testing and evaluation.
d. Ok.

References:

Fundamentals of Political Science Research. Paul M. Kellstedt. Guy D. Whitten.

https://pcw.gov.ph/womens-political-participation-and-representation

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/186810341002900405