Counterfactuals and the Study of the American Presidency.
King (1993) argues that with the small number of presidents available for study, presidency scholars cannot construct reliable causal inferences by employing the presidency as the unit of observation. He goes on to suggest that presidency scholars should abandon such research designs and search for...
| Publicado en: | Presidential Studies Quarterly Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 293 - 328 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
June 2002
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=510225144&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 510225144 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03604918 PRQ jtl: Presidential Studies Quarterly issn: 03604918 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: June 2002 vid: 32 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 510225144 10.1111/j.0360-4918.2002.00222.x ppf: 293 ppct: 35 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 2.7MB tig: atl: Counterfactuals and the Study of the American Presidency. aug: au: Chwieroth, Jeffrey M. su: Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 United States history Presidents of the United States Counterfactuals (Logic) Political science Methodology sug: subj: United States history Presidents of the United States Counterfactuals (Logic) Political science Methodology Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 ab: King (1993) argues that with the small number of presidents available for study, presidency scholars cannot construct reliable causal inferences by employing the presidency as the unit of observation. He goes on to suggest that presidency scholars should abandon such research designs and search for ways to increase their number of observations. This article evaluates King's methodological prescription by examining the utility of counterfactuals for presidency scholars. Relying on recent scholarship on counterfactuals, the author argues that presidency scholars may be able to produce reliable causal inferences while continuing to rely on the presidency as the unit of observation. He goes on to specify the conditions under which counterfactuals may be useful and illustrate the application of this method by examining Woodrow Wilson's failed effort to secure ratification of the Versailles Treaty. The author concludes that if presidency scholars' research dictates relying on the president as the unit of observation, then they are left with little choice but to rely on this method to test their theories with an adequate degree of certainty. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|