Lecture 2 - Reading a Scientific Article
Argument, Data, and Politics: POLS 3312

Reading a Scientific Article

• What is a scientific article?

• How do you read a scientific article?

• Activity

• Discussion of article

What is a scientific article on politics?

• A scientific article on politics is a report of original research

• It is published in a peer-reviewed journal

    - Peer review is not replication
    - Peer review is intended to ensure that the research is sound, the article is well-written, and that it contributes in an interesting way to the progress of the discipline
    - Peer review is sometimes biased, but double blind and multiple reviewers are the standard to minimize bias

• It is written by a political scientist for other political scientists

    - This does not mean it was written by someone with an advanced degree in political science
    - Peer review is blind to credentials

How do you read a scientific article?

• Read the abstract
• Read the conclusion
• Read the introduction
• Read the literature review selectively
• Read the theory
• Read the research design
• Read the results
• Read the conclusion again

What are you looking for?

• What is the research question? The puzzle
• What is the contribution to the literature?
• what is the theory?
• What is the research design?
• What are the main findings?

Research question

• What is the puzzle?
• what is the outcome the author is trying to explain? (dependent variable, DV, Y variable)
• This should be early in the abstract and the introduction

What is the contribution to the literature?

• What is the current state of the literature?
• What does the author take as settled?
• What is the current debate this is intended to address?
• Does the author offer a new theory, new data, or a new method?

What is the theory?

• What are the dependent variables (DVs, Y variables)?
• What are the independent variables (IVs, X variables)?
• What are the testable, falsifiable hypotheses?
• Are there any mediating or moderating variables? Any conditions?

What is the research design?

• What is the unit of analysis?
• What is the scope? (Time, geogrpahy, population of interest, etc.)
• What is the method of data collection?
• What is the method of data analysis?

Results

• What are the main results?
• What are the main tables and figures?
• Significance and effect sizes
• Is the theory confirmed or disconfirmed?

Conclusion and discussion

• What are the main findings? What is unresolved?
• What are the implications for the literature?
• What are the implications for policy?
• What are the implications for future research?

Scavenger Hunt Activity

Scavenger Hunt

Authorship, License, Credits

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>