This volume offers unique perspectives on how to engage in methods of inquiry in Political Science. Applying the debate in the field over the validity of qualitative methods, the authors illustrate how various methodological approaches are both rigorous and empirically rich. Each of the chapters consists of a particular methodological approach that offers useful insight into pressing political problems important for policy and for theory building. Drawing upon both positivist and interpretive approaches, the chapters illustrate how to engage in qualitative research involving case studies, content analysis and ethnography, each outlining the ¿doing¿ part of research. The volume is theoretically, thematically and geographically diverse, important for students and scholars across the field.

Addresses a distinct lack of literature on research methododolgy, in particular qualitative methods, in IR

1. Doing Qualitative Research in Politics: Building Theory and Formulating Policy.- 2. Case-Driven Theory-Building in Comparative Democratization: The Heuristics of Venezuela's "Democratic Purgatory".- 3. The Return of the Qualitative Case Study: The Impact of the Presidency and Congress on US Policy toward North Korea.- 4. Ethnic Conflict Management in Eastern Europe: Structured, Focused Comparison and the Case for Multidimensional Prevention.- 5. Combating modeling "at the expense of relevance": Moving the Study of Political Behavior past Large-N Survey Analysis in American Politics.- 6. Framing Infectious Diseases: Effective Policy Implementation and U.S. Public Opinion.- 7. Searching for Justice in International Trade Negotiations: A Feminist-Informed Multi-Sited Ethnographic Study of the Commonwealth Caribbean.- 8. Negotiating Local Cultural Space in a Global World: Joint Efforts at Meaning-Making and the Reconfiguration of Normative Womanhood in India.- 9. Policy Embodied: HIV, Sex Work, and Everyday Risks in the Slums of Kampala.