Methodology and the Study of the Political Executive
The predominant methodologies that are used in the study of the political executive are closely linked to the various approaches that have been applied in this domain. The intellectual history of the study of political executives shows the familiar evolution from the ‘old’ institutionalism via behavioralism to varieties of ‘new’ institutionalism, without any approach being replaced completely by another, resulting in more methodological pluralism than ever before. Each of these quantitative and qualitative methods has its own strengths and weaknesses, but to a greater or lesser extent they share several problems concerning the material they use. Most notably, the very nature of political executives brings with it severe limitations to data availability. This chapter ends with a plea for more systematic attention to methodological issues such as case selection, and with suggestions for new methodological techniques that may help improve the validity of the conclusions that scholars wish to draw about the political executive.