"Researching the European Union: Qualitative and quantitative approaches"

Nyikos, Stacy A. and Pollack, Mark A. (2003) "Researching the European Union: Qualitative and quantitative approaches". In: UNSPECIFIED, Nashville, TN. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In this [paper], we offer guidance for organizing, planning and conducting social science research in and about the European Union. Our guidance, we should warn, is partial, both in the sense of incompleteness and in terms of our shared bias in favor of theoretically informed analysis, hypothesis-testing, and causal inference. Readers who do not share our bias will therefore disagree with some of our comments and suggestions regarding, for example, research design; although we hope that even these scholars will find useful practical information in the pages that follow ... Following this introduction, section 2 offers some observations about the wealth of research questions that could be asked about the European Union, and suggests that the nature of ones research question can and should guide researchers in the identification of relevant theories, the formulation of testable hypotheses, and the design of a research project. Section three reviews the availability of both qualitative and quantitative data, including both official EU sources as well as innovative datasets compiled by EU scholars The fourth and fifth sections offer some nuts and bolts advice for scholars undertaking field work at the Brussels and Luxembourg headquarters of the primary EU institutions. A very brief sixth section concludes.

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