Handbook of Research Methods in International Relations

Edited by R. Joseph Huddleston, Assistant Professor, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, US, Thomas Jamieson, School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Patrick James, Dornsife Dean's Professer Emeritus, School of International Relations, Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, US

‘In Handbook of Research Methods in International Relations, the editors have brought together leading IR scholars to describe how they conduct their research. The result is a highly usable how-to guide on best research practices in international relations. The Handbook takes the reader on a guided tour through the tools of the trade—including interpretivist techniques, archival research, qualitative case study analysis, elite interviewing, and quantitative techniques such as social network analysis, computer-aided text analysis and formal modeling. The result is a must-have primer on how to conduct IR research from scholars who consistently publish in the top journals and presses in the field.’

• Contents:Introduction: international relations as interdisciplinary research 1R. Joseph Huddleston, Thomas Jamieson, and Patrick JamesPART I INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: SCOPE AND METHODS1 Doing international relations 7Ross James Gildea and Andrea Ruggeri2 Epistemology: logic, causality, and explanation 25Simon Frankel Pratt3 Critical approaches 41Leigh Spanner4 Conceptualization, measurement, and data 63Jenifer Whitten-Woodring5 Historical methods 74Norrin M. Ripsman6 Systems analysis: systemism and the Visual International Relations Project 89Sarah Gansen and Patrick JamesPART II APPROACHES: EXPLAINING INTERACTIONS7 International relations and regime type 105Inken von Borzyskowski and Mert Kartal8 International organizations and world politics 140George Kyris9 State and non-state actors in world politics 155Efe Tokdemir and Seden Akcinaroglu10 International regime complexes 171Mark Raymond11 International (global) political economy 186Lui Hebron12 Feminist methods in international relations research 202Melissa JohnstonPART III GETTING STARTED WITH RESEARCH: CONCEPTS,DATA, AND TECHNIQUES13 Using theory to choose an empirical research strategy 221Emily Hencken Ritter14 What kind of data is appropriate for my question? Choosing a unit of analysis 245Elsy Gonzalez and Paul Poast15 Choose your own estimator (or perish trying) 259Christopher K. Butler and Weidong Zhang16 Causal pathway analysis and matching: a practical guide 271Jeb Barnes and Nicholas Weller17 Challenges and payoffs of building a dataset from scratch 288Jessica Maves Braithwaite18 Think locally, regress globally: making the most of conventional IR data 305Carlos Felipe Balcazar and Matt Malis19 Non-state actors, civil wars, and other units of analysis 329Michael A. Rubin20 Text as data 350Peter B. Cuppernull and Rochelle Layla Terman21 Big data 370Eric Min22 Political research with social media data 392Samuel E. Bestvater23 Dealing with missing and incomplete data 413Miriam BarnumPART IV RESEARCH TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS24 Regression analysis 435Giacomo Chiozza25 Survival analysis in international relations 456Myriam Shiran and Patrick E. Shea26 Network analysis 477Elizabeth J. Menninga and Lindsey A. Goldberg27 Formal theory: an informal discussion 495Julianne Phillips28 A brief glance into qualitative methods for international relations 517Reyna L. Reyes Nunez29 Planning, conducting, and analyzing interviews 536M.P. Broache30 Mixed methods research 558Dana El Kurd31 Digging through documents: the promise, problems, and prospects ofarchival research for international relations 571Joshua Shifrinson32 Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) 595Alrik Thiem33 Interpretivism in international relations research 617Lucas Knotter34 Case study analysis 639Luai AliPART V EVALUATION AND RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH RESULTS35 The political and policy relevance of our research 657Bridget L. Coggins36 How to publish in academic journals 679Marijke Breuning and John Ishiyama37 Navigating the ethics of human subjects research 696Jennifer Roglà38 Research labs: concept, utility, and application 717Kelebogile Zvobgo39 Perverse effects, potential harms, and international relations research inthe world 736Laura Sjoberg and Jonathon WhooleyIndex