Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Homicide rates in the United States rose significantly in the late 1980s and early 1990s. City level analysis reveals that there was substantial variation in homicide trends during this period. This project examines the relationship between the number of police in 68 major US cities and the presence, magnitude, and duration of the homicide epidemic. Preliminary findings indicate that that the number of police in a city had no significant effect on the parameters of the homicide epidemic, despite claims to the contrary.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This presentation provides interactive approaches to teach critical elements of social science at the undergraduate level: the scientific method, measurement, and information literacy. Whole-class and small-group activities for the scientific method and measurement allow instrutors to activate students' intuitive understanding of these concepts and connect it to the technical and conceptual tools that the social sciences provide. Working with the ACRL's Research Competency Guidelines as benchmark standards, student worksheets present core skills in an accessible and assess-able manner.

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document
Supporting Document
Supporting Document
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: A persistent dualism, variously referred to as qualitative versus quantitative, small-N versus large-N, or covariational versus process-tracing, afflicts contemporary social science. This paper is an attempt to explain that dualism and to offer a way forward. The key methodological issue, we argue, is the comparability of adjacent observations. Quantitative work presumes that observations under analysis are highly comparable because the tools of this trade require the use of a single, uniform metric and a precise point estimate of each observation. Qualitative work, by contrast, need not assume a high level of comparability among chosen observations because the tools of its trade are linguistic and words are open to a variety of meanings, which may be context-specific. In this respect, our explanation is quite different from standard interpretations of the qual/quant divide. Comparability also offers insight into the variety of approaches to causal analysis that currently populate the social sciences. In the second part of the paper we show that all such methods can be sorted into three basic categories according to the number of comparable observations under study. Mathematical methods (“statistics”) require a large number of comparable observations; Mill-ean methods require a small number of comparable observations; and process-tracing methods presume any number of non-comparable observations. We argue that the vexed position of process tracing is largely due to this reliance on incommensurable observations, and offer some reasons for why this approach to causal inference is necessary, at least in certain circumstances.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Przeworski, Alvarez, Cheibub, and Limongi (2000) challenge the key hypothesis in
modernization theory: political regimes do not transition to democracy as per capita
incomes rise, they argue. Rather, democratic transitions occur randomly, but once
there, countries with higher levels of GDP per capita remain democratic. We retest
the modernization hypothesis using new data, new techniques, and a three-way rather
than dichotomous classification of regime types. Contrary to Przeworski et. al. (2000)
we find that the modernization hypothesis stands up well. We also find that partial
democracies emerge as among the most important and least understood regime types.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What makes a federation robust? In this paper I describe broad themes relevant to federal robustness, including defining both federalism and robustness (as opposed to stability) and requirements for a supportive institutional framework.