Briefing box 1.1 Questions commonly asked of political research

• Who produced the research? Was it an academic, a journalist, a politician, a think tank?

• Why was it produced? Is it a one-off study or part of an ongoing project?

• How was it carried out? What method or methods have been employed? Was the research funded - if so, by whom? What sort of access did the writer gain to the subject studied? How long did it take? How long ago was the research carried out?

• What is actually being presented? Are all questions answered? Could other issues have been investigated?

• What does it mean? Has it led to policy change? Has it affected political behaviour?

Ultimately, the books or journal articles we read, the news bulletins we watch or listen to, and the official documents and archives we search through have been produced for a reason. In some cases there may be a legal requirement or a sense of 'public duty' (see our examination of official data in Chapter 4) whilst other cases may be satisfying a more general 'need to know'. Therefore, it is very important that we give some consideration to who the producers or sponsors are, and for what purpose or circulation it was intended, as their values may (albeit unintentionally) ultimately influence the research process. Hence, the production of research in political science does not take place in a moral vacuum. Research can be as much a result of agenda-setting as it can be deemed to be in the interests of the development of wider public knowledge.

The language of political research methods

As with any field of knowledge, political researchers are prone to use technical language to explain their research findings. This is clearly justifiable, as long as those working in the field have a common understanding and interpretation of such terms. However, on the negative side it means that we may be creating exclusive information which is only comprehensible to a small audience.

Problems with terminology are not merely confined to research language. As politics is largely a subjective science, we may also disagree over the meaning of some, very common, political terms. Using clear language in political research

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is extremely important, as terms such as 'liberal', 'power' and 'development' are notoriously vague and open to multiple interpretations. For example, the term 'government' is a multidimensional concept with at least four interpretations (Finer, 1987, pp. 3-4):

1 the activity or process of exercising control over others;

2 the state of affairs of exercising control, that is, a condition of ordered rule;

3 those in charge in a political system;

4 the style or manner of exercising control, for example, liberal democracy, totalitarianism, military regime.

Therefore, just as we must be clear about the methods we use to research politics, it is vital that we clearly define potentially disputable terms. Throughout this text many technical terms will be identified and explained. Some terms we shall analyse in relation to purely quantitative research (beginning in Chapter 2) and some in relation to qualitative research, whilst some terms are shared between the two. You can also refer to the Glossary for brief explanations of commonly used terms, although by reading the text more fully you will encounter examples of 'real research' which will help you to comprehend the language of political research.