Concepts Matter - A Framework for Political Science Concept Formation

For a revised version of this paper, see Definitions Matter: Reflections on Political Science Concept Formation (http://ssrn.com/abstract=1958766).The purpose of this paper is to discuss political science methodology from perspective of concept formation. The approach is somewhat uncommon, because most academics look at concepts from perspective of how they are used rather than how they are shaped. The traditionalists among us use words (terms or concepts) to formulate arguments or to trace historical developments; scholars working empirically employ concept-based data to test concrete hypotheses, and philosophically-inclined colleagues use concepts to ponder issues of high abstraction. In all three cases, view is top-down, whereas in this study it is bottom-up. The shift in perspective is rewarding, because concepts are miniature versions of a wider world; they are a scientific microcosm, and, as such, contain crucial information about methodology in general. It shows in organization of this paper. We begin with a glance at individual concepts but end with a discussion of methodology as such or, if you will, with a return to scientific macrocosm. The aim is also to deal with methodological issues in a clear and understandable way, and I want to do so by presenting a framework that conceives of concepts as multidimensional tools. Since framework addresses foundations of political science methodology, it sidesteps details, concrete techniques and research designs. Most of issues dealt with, because they are basic, are of a philosophical (or truly qualitative) nature – reason enough for many students (and professors) to avoid them. That is unfortunate, because, as I will try to show, points involved are not too difficult to grasp, especially when illustrated by concrete examples from both natural and social sciences.The chief purpose, as said, is to discuss age-old and well-known questions in a coherent manner. It is therefore not my intention to propose anything new, especially no new methodology. Our discipline already suffers from far too many approaches. For seasoned reader text may belabor obvious, but for someone trying to grasp basics about methodology exercise should be useful. To stick to essentials I try to organize my thoughts in short paragraphs and sections. The format parallels a PowerPoint presentation prepared for a panel organized by Division on Qualitative and Multi-Method Research of American Political Science Association at its 2010 Annual Meeting. The organization of this paper reflects objective pursued and has three main parts. Part 1 is a brief presentation of framework, of idea that concepts are comparable to multidimensional tools. The main focus of Part 2 is on definitional structure, a topic of major importance in a soft discipline like ours. Part 3 deals with concept formation, a point of some interest because scientists not only possess special forms of knowledge but also use it to create new forms of knowledge. That is what science is all about – penetrating unknown with help of known. Or, as Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba put it, to do research is to use the facts we know to learn about facts we do not know. In German this needs no emphasizing, because term for scientist is Wissenschafter, a word that stands for knowledge (Wissen) and for its creation (schaffen). The paper ends, as is customary, with some concluding remarks.