Causal Inference and Comparative Methods

1986 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. GENE DeFELICE
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Alternative Method

Various ways are considered to infer causality from a relatively small number of cases that can be selected but not manipulated. The development of the “comparable-cases strategy” is examined first, together with the claim that it constitutes the comparative method. Mill's “method of agreement” is then presented as an alternative method of comparison, a method that not only can and has been used quite effectively with survey research in comparative politics, but one that is completely free from the methodological short-comings attributed to it. Cases, in short, may be selected for their similarity or their contrast. But because both of these qualitative methods of comparison (even when used jointly) are considerably less powerful than the “method of concomitant variation,” a third strategy is proffered to comparativists. It is a strategy employed extensively by Durkheim, but apparently lost sight of in attempts to reduce it—as well as the method of agreement—to a single comparative method based upon comparable cases.

scholarly journals Optimizing Consistency and Coverage in Configurational Causal Modeling

2021 ◽  
pp. 004912412199555
Author(s):  
Michael Baumgartner ◽  
Mathias Ambühl
Keyword(s):  
Model Selection ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Causal Models ◽  
Causal Modeling ◽  
Model Fit

Consistency and coverage are two core parameters of model fit used by configurational comparative methods (CCMs) of causal inference. Among causal models that perform equally well in other respects (e.g., robustness or compliance with background theories), those with higher consistency and coverage are typically considered preferable. Finding the optimally obtainable consistency and coverage scores for data [Formula: see text], so far, is a matter of repeatedly applying CCMs to [Formula: see text] while varying threshold settings. This article introduces a procedure called ConCovOpt that calculates, prior to actual CCM analyses, the consistency and coverage scores that can optimally be obtained by models inferred from [Formula: see text]. Moreover, we show how models reaching optimal scores can be methodically built in case of crisp-set and multi-value data. ConCovOpt is a tool, not for blindly maximizing model fit, but for rendering transparent the space of viable models at optimal fit scores in order to facilitate informed model selection—which, as we demonstrate by various data examples, may have substantive modeling implications.

scholarly journals Inference and visualization of phenome-wide causal relationships using genetic data: an application to dental caries and periodontitis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Haworth ◽  
Pik Fang Kho ◽  
Pernilla Lif Holgerson ◽  
Liang-Dar Hwang ◽  
Nicholas J. Timpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dental Caries ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
List Type ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Causal Relationships ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Alternative Method ◽  
Causal Variable

AbstractBackgroundHypothesis-free Mendelian randomization studies provide a way to assess the causal relevance of a trait across the human phenome but can be limited by statistical power or complicated by horizontal pleiotropy. The recently described latent causal variable (LCV) approach provides an alternative method for causal inference which might be useful in hypothesis-free experiments.MethodsWe developed an automated pipeline for phenome-wide tests using the LCV approach including steps to estimate partial genetic causality, filter to a meaningful set of estimates, apply correction for multiple testing and then present the findings in a graphical summary termed a causal architecture plot. We apply this process to body mass index and lipid traits as exemplars of traits where there is strong prior expectation for causal effects and dental caries and periodontitis as exemplars of traits where there is a need for causal inference.ResultsThe results for lipids and BMI suggest that these traits are best viewed as creating consequences on a multitude of traits and conditions, thus providing additional evidence that supports viewing these traits as targets for interventions to improve health. On the other hand, caries and periodontitis are best viewed as a downstream consequence of other traits and diseases rather than a cause of ill health.ConclusionsThe automated process is available as part of the MASSIVE pipeline from the Complex-Traits Genetics Virtual Lab (https://vl.genoma.io) and results are available in (https://view.genoma.io). We propose causal architecture plots based on phenome-wide partial genetic causality estimates as a way visualizing the overall causal map of the human phenome.Key messagesThe latent causal variable approach uses summary statistics from genome-wide association studies to estimate a parameter termed genetic causality proportion.Systematic estimation of genetic causality proportion for many pairs of traits provides an alternative method for phenome-wide causal inference with some theoretical and practical advantages compared to phenome-wide Mendelian randomization.Using this approach, we confirm that lipid traits are an upstream risk factor for other traits and diseases, and we identify that dental diseases are predominantly a downstream consequence of other traits rather than a cause of poor systemic health.The method assumes no bidirectional causality and no confounding by environmental correlates of genotypes, so care is needed when these assumptions are not met.We developed an automated and accessible pipeline for estimating phenome-wide causal relationships and generating interactive visual summaries.

scholarly journals Institutions, Ideologies, and Comparative Political Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-438
Author(s):  
Joshua Simon
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Comparative Political Theory ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Methodological Reflection ◽  
Insight Into

The growing prominence of comparative political theory has inspired extensive and fruitful methodological reflection, raising important questions about the procedures that political theorists should apply when they select texts for study, interpret their passages, and assess their arguments. But, notably, comparative political theorists have mainly rejected the comparative methods used in the subfield of comparative politics, because they argue that applying the comparative method would compromise both the interpretive and the critical projects that comparative political theory should pursue. In this article, I describe a comparative approach for the study of political ideas that offers unique insight into how the intellectual and institutional contexts that political thinkers occupy influence their ideas. By systematically describing how political thinking varies across time and over space in relation to the contexts within which political thinkers live and work, the comparative method can serve as the foundation for both deconstructive critiques, which reveal the partial interests that political ideas presented as universally advantageous actually serve, and reconstructive critiques, which identify particular thinkers or traditions of political thought that, because of the contexts in which they developed, offer compelling critical perspectives on existing political institutions.

scholarly journals Explanation or Understanding? Movement Studies Between Natural Sciences and Cultural Studies

2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Eichberg
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Cultural Struggle ◽  
Health Studies ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Abstract Movement studies are - like health studies - placed between natural sciences and cultural studies as well as between quantitative and qualitative methods. That is why they are challenged by some methodological contradictions. Yet the dual relations between nature and culture, and between quantitative and qualitative methods, may be of superficial character. Deeper beneath, one finds tensions with theoretical implications: between the quest for evidence and the comparative method, between generalization and case study, between explanation and understanding, between the correctness of the answer and the quality of the question, between affirmative and fluent knowledge, between factors and connections, between data and patterns, between the state of research and historical change of knowledge, between objectivity and subjectivity, and between theory and philosophy. There seems to be something akin to cultural struggle in the field of knowledge. Yet the dual contradictions do not comprise two neatly separated “cultures of knowledge” that exclude each other. There are cross-disciplinary connections and overlaps, which help toward an understanding of human life.

Regime Type and Diffusion in Comparative Politics Methodology

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Hanson ◽  
Jeffrey S. Kopstein
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Scientific Inference ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Abstract.In recent years, several prominent political scientists have argued that quantitative and qualitative methodologies should be seen as united by a single logic of scientific inference. Just exactly how this reconciliation of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches should be effected in practice, however, remains highly contentious. For all its promise, the project of uniting quantitative and qualitative methods in political science has thus reached something of an impasse. Participants on both sides of the quantitative/qualitative debate are convinced that this methodological divide should eventually be transcended, but few have abandoned the conviction that their preferred approach sets the standard by which progress in this endeavor should be judged. Evidently, we still lack consensus on precisely where the distinctive strengths of each methodological approach lie, and how these strengths can be combined effectively in systematic investigations of the political world. In this essay, we argue that a satisfactory synthesis of quantitative and qualitative methods for making causal inferences in comparative politics depends upon the resolution of a prior theoretical problem at the stage of research design: establishing a typology of political regimes and accounting for the mechanisms of their reproduction and diffusion over time and space.Résumé.Ces dernières années, plusieurs politologues éminents ont soutenu qu'il faudrait considérer les méthodologies quantitative et qualitative comme étant unies par une même logique de déduction scientifique. Comment réaliser cette réconciliation des approches quantitative et qualitative dans la pratique demeure cependant un sujet hautement contesté. Tout prometteur qu'il soit, le projet d'unifier les méthodes quantitative et qualitative en science politique se retrouve en fait dans une impasse. Les participants des deux côtés du débat quantitatif/qualitatif sont persuadés qu'il faudra un jour transcender cette fracture méthodologique, mais ils sont peu nombreux à avoir abandonné la conviction que l'approche qu'ils privilégient établit la norme qui permettra d'évaluer les progrès accomplis. Il est évident qu'il n'y a pas encore de consensus quant aux forces respectives précises de chaque méthode, ni sur la manière de les combiner efficacement pour procéder à des études systématiques du monde politique. Dans cet article, nous avançons qu'une synthèse satisfaisante des méthodes quantitative et qualitative pour arriver à des déductions causales en politique comparée exige qu'on s'emploie à résoudre d'abord un problème théorique à l'étape de la conception de la recherche, à savoir l'établissement d'une typologie des régimes politiques et l'inventaire des mécanismes de leur reproduction et de leur diffusion dans l'espace et dans le temps.

scholarly journals Arrangement and transcriptions in creations by Alexander Siloty at the mention of traditions for musical and redactional practice at the end of XIXth – the first part of the XXth centuries

2021 ◽  
pp. 190-195
Author(s):  
Mariya Kulish
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Technical Problem ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
The Other ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Previous Generation ◽  
Processed Material ◽  
Piano Teachers ◽  
General Goal ◽  
The Individual

Purpose of the article. Consists of research of redactional heritage by Alexander Siloty at the border of the XIXth-XXth centuries and analysis of his arrangement and transcriptions. The methodology consists of using resources-studying, comparative methods, and also method of systematization and generalization. The resources-studying method was used for analyzing previous resources and working with the full edition of redactions by Alexander Siloty. A comparative method was necessary during the comparison of the first piece`s resource and its transcription. Method of systematization and generalization consists of generalization for processed material and summarizing of this exploring. This mythological approach allows the analysis of details previsions information at the thymes of arranging and transcriptions by Alexander Siloty. The scientific novelty of the article consists of an introduction to scientific circulation redactions by Alexander Siloty, which are not explored at this moment, and also in locating of the creating by Alexander Siloty arrangements and transcriptions for piano pieces for orchestral and vocal genres. Сonclusions. Arrangements and transcriptions by Alexander Siloty absorbed in itself basis points of edition`s working by representatives of the previous generation, as C. Cherny and F. Busoni. But pedagogical and performable functions in Alexander Siloty`s redactions were actually balanced, in the same moment when pieces by previous representatives were calculated for the most part only for professional pianists. Identifying during exploration this approach in the way of editions` deleting on amplifications and reductions, did conclusions, that they had full right to take place in the repertoire of the modern pianists and in the pedagogical base of professional piano teachers. Modern pianist sets a goal of the technical problem`s solving and maximally exactly represent of score`s text, and left interpretative goals on the second side. On the other hand, redactions by Alexander Siloty weren`t focused attention on the only pianistic tricks. The general goal of it becomes the individual mind through the personality of the single performer.

Comparative Politics of Non-Western Countries

1955 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1022-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Mct. Kahin ◽  
Guy J. Pauker ◽  
Lucian W. Pye
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Western World ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Open Question

There is wide recognition that in the non-Western world profound social and cultural changes are taking place as traditional societies have been exposed to the ideas and the ways of the West. There is also general agreement that new political patterns and relationships are evolving in these countries. However, with respect to most non-Western countries, it remains difficult to foresee whether the consequences of social change are to be stable, viable political practices or endemic instabilities in government. In many cases, it is still an open question whether the future will bring them a liberal democratic form of politics or some type of authoritarian rule such as communism.This state of affairs can be a challenge to the comparative method of political analysis. This is particularly so because most of the non-Western political systems have many features in common. They are generally the product of a traditional past in which the administration of government was the preserve of a select few. Many show the influence of a previous colonial rule, some even that of the same country. More important, they are often quite self-conscious about the problem of moving from a definite past to an idealized future.

scholarly journals The Case for Comparative Ethnography

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica S. Simmons ◽  
Nicholas Rush Smith
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Popular Method ◽  
Comparative Ethnography ◽  
Advance Knowledge ◽  
Better Than

To what extent can comparative methods and ethnographic inquiry combine to advance knowledge in political science? Ethnography is becoming an increasingly popular method within political science. Yet both proponents and detractors often see it as a technique best suited for producing in-depth knowledge about a particular case or for explicating the meaning of a particular political behavior. This article argues that comparative ethnography—ethnographic research that explicitly and intentionally builds an argument through the analysis of two or more cases—can be of particular value to political scientists, and to scholars of comparative politics in particular. The approach can hone our theoretical models, challenge existing conceptual categories, and help develop portable political insights. This article has two goals: (1) to show that comparative ethnographic research deserves a prominent place in the repertoire of qualitative methods and (2) to elaborate the logics of inquiry behind such comparisons so that scholars will be better equipped to use them more frequently. Two or more cases are not always better than one, but comparative ethnography can yield new and different insights with important implications for our understandings of politics.

Consensus and dissensus in comparative politics: Do comparativists agree on the goals, methods, and results of the field?

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 490-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Causal Inference ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Substantial Agreement ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Citation Bias

Are comparative political scientists divided over the goals, methods, and results of their field? This article attempts to answer this question, drawing on an original survey of US-based political scientists. The main conclusion is that there is relative consensus on the goals of research—comparativists favor broad generalizations and causal inference—but there is also acceptance of a variety of methodological approaches, both qualitative and quantitative, in pursuing this goal. Comparativists, however, show less agreement on substantive findings in the areas of democracy and democratic politics, economy and society, and political institutions. Interestingly, generational differences are relatively infrequent, but gender differences on issues such as rational choice and causal inference are more prominent, possibly contributing to gendered citation bias. The findings suggest that comparative politics may not have accumulated a large amount of agreed-upon knowledge, but that there is substantial agreement on the path forward.

Multivariate Continuous Blocking to Improve Political Science Experiments

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Causal Inference ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
High Dimensional ◽  
Treatment Assignment ◽  
Political Research ◽  
Continuous Covariates ◽  
Politics And Education ◽  
Better Than

Political scientists use randomized treatment assignments to aid causal inference in field experiments, psychological laboratories, and survey research. Political research can do considerably better than completely randomized designs, but few political science experiments combine random treatment assignment with blocking on a rich set of background covariates. We describe high-dimensional multivariate blocking, including on continuous covariates, detail its statistical and political advantages over complete randomization, introduce a particular algorithm, and propose a procedure to mitigate unit interference in experiments. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm in simulations and three field experiments from campaign politics and education.

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