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THE CUMULATION PROBLEM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AN ESSAY ON RESEARCH STRATEGIES *
Author(s) -
SJÖBLOM GUNNAR
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1977.tb01209.x
Subject(s) - politics , epistemology , state (computer science) , scheme (mathematics) , positive economics , political methodology , sociology , political science , management science , computer science , american political science , economics , mathematics , systems theory in political science , philosophy , law , mathematical analysis , algorithm
After a discussion of possible components in a definition of “cumulation” and of the relative lack of cumulation in political science, a scheme for research strategies is outlined with the aim of facilitating cumulation, or at least facilitating a diagnosis of the state of political science in this respect. The scheme includes three types of studies: (1) analysis of the formal properties of theoretical approaches in political science, (2) content analyses in the form of inventories of problems, propositions and concepts in the discipline, (3) evaluational analysis, i.e. an assessment of what “theory criteria” to use for evaluating the approaches and of the probable relations between these criteria.