1. Doing Qualitative Research in Politics: Building Theory and Formulating PolicyAngela Kachuyevski and Lisa M. Samuel2. Case-Driven Theory-Building in Comparative Democratization: The Heuristics of Venezuela’s “Democratic Purgatory”Christopher M. Brown3. The Return of the Qualitative Case Study: The Impact of the Presidency and Congress on US Policy toward North KoreaTaehyung Ahn4. Ethnic Conflict Management in Eastern Europe: Structured, Focused Comparison and the Case for Multidimensional PreventionAngela Kachuyevski 5. Combating modeling “at the expense of relevance”: Moving the Study of Political Behavior past Large-N Survey Analysis in American PoliticsAmy Widestrom 6. Framing Infectious Diseases: Effective Policy Implementation and U.S. Public OpinionMita Saksena 7. Searching for Justice in International Trade Negotiations: A Feminist-Informed Multi-Sited Ethnographic Study of the Commonwealth CaribbeanLisa M. Samuel8. Negotiating Local Cultural Space in a Global World: Joint Efforts at Meaning-Making and the Reconfiguration of Normative Womanhood in IndiaMonalisa Gangopadhyay9. Policy Embodied: HIV, Sex Work, and Everyday Risks in the Slums of KampalaSerena Cruz  

This volume offers unique perspectives on how to engage in methods of inquiry in Political Science. Applying the debate in the field over the validity of qualitative methods, the authors illustrate how various methodological approaches are both rigorous and empirically rich. Each of the chapters consists of a particular methodological approach that offers useful insight into pressing political problems important for policy and for theory building. Drawing upon both positivist and interpretive approaches, the chapters illustrate how to engage in qualitative research involving case studies, content analysis and ethnography, each outlining the “doing” part of research. The volume is theoretically, thematically and geographically diverse, important for students and scholars across the field. Angela Kachuyevski is Associate Professor of Political Science at Arcadia University, USA.Lisa M. Samuel is Academic Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies, USA.

Addresses a distinct lack of literature on research methododolgy, in particular qualitative methods, in IRWill serve as a pragmatic and reassuring research guide for scholars and students alikeDirectly links theoretical discussions to relevant policy formulations