Chapter 5: Qualitative Methods in

International Relations

What are qualitative methods? Briefly explain the advantages

of using qualitative methods
Qualitative methods refer broadly to data collection and analysis
strategies that rely upon the collection of and analysis of nonnumeric data.
Qualitative methods are used in order to better understand how we
make sense of the world around us, and as such require us to focus
on meanings and processes that make up international politics.

Compare and contrast inductive reasoning and deductive

reasoning with examples.
Inductive reasoning: (bottom up) Inductive reasoning, or induction,
is reasoning from a specific case or cases and deriving a general rule.
This is against the scientific method. It makes generalizations by
observing patterns and drawing inferences that may well be
incorrect.
Every time you eat peanuts, your throat swells up and you can't breath. So, you
are allergic to peanuts.
All chickens that we have seen have been brown; so, all chickens are brown.

Compare and contrast inductive reasoning and deductive

reasoning with examples.
Deductive reasoning generally starts with one or more general
statements or premises to reach a logical conclusion. If the premises
are true, the conclusion must be valid. Deductive reasoning is used by
scientists and mathematicians to prove their hypotheses.
all super powers are aggressive, China is super power, so China is
aggressive.

Identify and briefly explain the main strategies to collect

qualitative data and examples of qualitative data.
Principle strategies for collecting qualitative data that have been use
by scholars of IR include: interviews, focus groups, internet-based
research, and archival or document-based research.
Interview: Interview data can provide a rich resource for qualitative
analysis and provide new insights into just about any aspect of IR.
Researchers conduct interviews to gain factual data about a particular
phenomena, events or object, to elicit the opinions or perspectives of an
interview participant or to learn more about their behavior.

Identify and briefly explain the main strategies to collect

qualitative data and examples of qualitative data.
focus groups: focus groups can be characterized as a form of group
interviewing. Focus groups generally involve bringing together groups of
six to ten research participants in order to discuss a particular topic or
question.
internet-based research: use internet to access traditional scholarly
materials, such as scholarly journal articles and books, also getting
access to governmental websites to gain instant access to official
statement or press interview transcripts.
archival and document-based research: is perhaps the most common
strategy used by students for research in IR. If we attempt to study
international conflicts, international organizations, or human rights etc.
we almost always reference documents in our research, therere two
forms of documents: primary sources documents and secondary sources
documents.

Briefly explain the triangulation of data collection techniques

and their advantages.
Triangulation means using more than one method to collect data on
the same topic. This is a way of assuring the validity of research
through the use of a variety of methods to collect data on the same
topic, which involves different types of samples as well as methods of
data collection.
It can prove the effective strategy in assessing the validity of
interview data.

Explain the distinction between primary source documents

and secondary source documents with examples.
Primary source documents are the original documents authored by
individuals who had direct access to the information that they are
describing, or directly experienced a particular event.
Ex: Some examples of primary source formats include: archives and

manuscript material, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings

Secondary source documents are those documents, which make

reference to, and analyze, primary source documents.
Ex: Expert reports, reference books, journal articles...etc.

Explain the nature of official documents with examples. Give an example of

a research topic that requires researchers to access official documents.
What is the main challenge of using this data collection technique?

Official documents are documents, which are published, or are

publicly released, by a state, organization, or business.
Official documents include lengthy research reports, polity
statements, interview or speech transcripts, records of memoranda
or official emails.
Research topic related to IR field requires researchers to access
official documents
the main challenge of using this data is that we cant get fully access
to the data.

what cautions need to be taken when researchers use media reports for
their research? Give an example of a research topic for which media
reports can be used.

When using media sources, it is important to distinguish between

international media sources, such as reporting by major global
networks such as CNN or BBC, and newspapers such as the New York
Times or the Guardian, and local news sources that have an
exclusively local circulation or audience.
Ex: the effect of international criminal trials on domestic Croatian
politics

Explain the limitations of document-based research.

First: It is very rarely the case that a researcher would have access to the full
and complete archives of a given organization or state. Even when complete
access is possible, documents only give you a glimpse (quick look) into
those items that were recorded into an organizations institutional memory
Second: you should always question the veracity of what is written in
documents, whether official, media, or other private sources. Because you
may might find that the national paper from which you collected data is
known for promoting a particular perspective on a given issue, and
therefore you might want to also expand your search to other national
newspapers in order to check the veracity of your collected reports.

Compare and contrast the three interview formats with examples, and
briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of each interview
format
Structured Interviews: are used to produce quantitative research
data, and include a menu of responses from which the participant
selects a response that is recorded by the interview.
Advantages: structured interview is analogous to a questionnaire, can
reach large sample, a representative sample is possible and result can be
used to make statements, questions are structured and asked in the
same way so that respondents answers can be more easily.
Disadvantages: any change from the interview script on the part of
those conducting the interview can distort he findings because the data
collected will no longer be structured.

Compare and contrast the three interview formats with examples, and
briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of each interview
format
Semi-structured interviews: are commonly used because there is a
degree of structure that allows for cross-referencing across interview
participants, but there is also scope for more in-depth probing on
issues of interest to the researcher.
Advantages:

large amount of detail generated, fairly flexible and

sensitive, fairly reliable and easy to analyze.

Disadvantages: cant guarantee honesty of participants, flexibility of
interviews may lessen reliability, difficult to compare answers, time
consuming and resource intensive.

Compare and contrast the three interview formats with examples, and
briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of each interview
format
Unstructured interviews: are aimed at eliciting (obtain) the unfiltered
perspectives of interview participants. They usually begin with simple
but broad, open-ended questions.
Advantages: The interaction between the participant and the interviewer
allows for richer, more valid data. This is because the interviewer can ask
follow up questions. Ambiguities in an answer can be probed to further
understand the meaning of that answer. The interviewer can change the
questions if, over the course of the study they think the hypothesis should
change or they want to take the study in a new direction.
Disadvantages: time consuming an costly, hard to compare and analyze the
data...etc.

Briefly explain the tips for conducting interviews.

First is to make sure you have thoroughly researched the interview
participant.
if the participant is an elite, they will have likely made statements or
granted interviews to the media, authored relevant reports, or delivered
testimony before an official body.

Second, make sure that you are explicit as to the amount of time you
will require, and make sure in advance that your interview questions,
whether structured, semi-structured, or unstructured, can be
completed in the allocated time.
at the interview itself, you should maintain a professional appearance, you
should be transparent about the purpose of your research, how the
interview data will be used, and whether or not you can protect the
confidentiality of the research participant.

Briefly explain the tips for conducting interviews.

Finally, make sure that you meticulously (very careful and precise)
document your interview, either through detailed notes or through
audio or video recording.
if you are going to record the interview you must ask for permission from
the interview participant to be recorded.

Once the interview is completed, always, if possible, send an email or

note to the participant thanking them for their time.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages

conducting internet-based research.

of

Advantages:
Created a rich resource in the form of blog entries and social
network sites where we can read the perspectives of activists and
bloggers on the ground in the country we might be studying.
Able to access governmental websites to gain instant access to
official statements or press interview transcripts.

Disadvantages:
it is difficult to assess whether or not what we are reading is
factual or simply represents the views of an individual.

What is content analysis? Briefly explain the process

of conducting content analysis.
Content analysis is a research method in which breaking down
textual data into numeric form, or some sort of counting exercise,
therefore have a tendency to view content analysis as a quantitative
method.
Process of conduct a content analysis:
First explicitly specify the scope of your analysis
Begin to select the sources you will be using for your content analysis
Create timeframe
Categorize news story contents:
generate categories (inductive or deductive)
code keywords in the text (using software)

What is discourse analysis? Briefly explain the

process of conducting discourse analysis.
Discourse analysis is a form of qualitative analysis that focuses on the
interpretation of linguistic (related to language) forms of
communication. It can be either spoken or written, and also can be
both official and unofficial forms of communication.
To conduct a discourse analysis:
first need to specify the scope of what you will be examining. (what
particular speeches, documents, or declarations will you examine, and
why?)
need to identify and justify your selection of texts. ( the justification is
important because you will be making an argument as to the
representativeness of the texts for a broader discourse that serves to
constitute and produce something of interest in IR)
after that you will attempt to find out why and how actors resorted to a
particular discourse.