Consider this an open thread to offer any comments or suggestions on chapter 1.
(To start things off, I will post a self-criticism I have in the comments.)
Update: Comments can be made by clicking on the small link just below any post.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In preparing for class today, it occurred to me that the chapter could do a better job in setting up the MSS and MDS comparisons by clarifying that all those similarities listed are potential arguments for why the outcome occurs.
ReplyDeleteTo use the Togo/Ghana example, I could be clearer that "Climate", "Religion", "Ethnic Heterogeneity", etc. are all possible reasons for why a country is democratic. Doing so may make it clearer that the comparative method allows us to begin to "rule out" or cross off some such hypotheses. So maybe I should add the "hypotheses" into the text, one for each of the variables on which the two cases are similar, just to show how the MSS table helps us.
I also want to be attentive to the length of the chapter, and at about 12,000 words, it is perhaps a bit too long. (Chapters of 10,000 words would be about right, by my lights.) So I am looking for areas to trim. One early candidate, I think, is p. 3, which I feel may get a bit redundant, repetitive, and redundant. And repetitive.
Look forward to your comments.