Sort Articles

political science methods

September 19, 2025

Assessing the degree and drivers of sensitivity in political science

Michael Ganslmeier Michael Ganslmeier and Tim Vlandas have developed a new approach to measure the fragility of findings in political science. Showing that empirical results can change substantially when researchers vary reasonable and equally defensible modelling choices, they advocate for greater use of systematic robustness checks Read more
February 5, 2024

Mainstream parties adopting far-right rhetoric simply increases votes for far-right parties

Antonia May The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe led some mainstream parties to attempt to regain voters' support by adopting pro-nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. However, new research by Antonia May and Christian Czymara suggests that this strategy unintentionally benefits far-right parties and not the political mainstream Read more
October 24, 2023

Embracing anxiety can help us do better research

Karl Gustafsson Anxiety is widespread in academia, among faculty members and students. However, anxiety is not unequivocally a negative emotion. Karl Gustafsson and Linus Hagström argue that it can also be a creative force. Anxiety can help us develop better ideas and research problems. It can help us do better research Read more
January 5, 2023

Is the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index little more than a joke indicator?

Nicolás Palomo Hernández The public and the media increasingly use Democratic Global Performance Indicators (GPIs). But how good are these indicators at measuring democratic health? Nicolás Palomo Hernández looks at the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index as an example. He argues that the index has methodological and ideological biases, yet significant impact nonetheless Read more
November 11, 2022

Against misinformation as method in political science

Matthew Barnfield Political scientists use experimental methods to study cause-and-effect relationships in politics. Sometimes these approaches involve exposing people to false information about their political reality. Matthew Barnfield argues that this practice of misinformation is not only unethical, but also an ineffective way of learning about the political world Read more
October 25, 2022

Interdisciplinary social science and the limits of quantitative research

Avery Reyna Social scientists are increasingly using quantitative interdisciplinary research methods in the hope of obtaining more nuanced, concrete findings. However, Avery Reyna argues that without proper foresight, relying on these approaches to describe interactions between people, countries, and more complex sociopolitical systems may be harmful to the field overall Read more
October 10, 2022

A novel dataset of global political finance regimes

William Horncastle Most nations employ some form of regulation on political finance. William Horncastle explores the different approaches that are taken and presents his recently published open access dataset on political finance systems: the Regulation of Political Finance Indicator Read more
August 16, 2022

📐 Measuring human rights: facing a necessary challenge

Eduardo Burkle Reliable, accessible human rights data is vital to track the human rights performance of countries worldwide. Good data can help create a world where those rights are better understood and fulfilled. Discussing measurement projects, new methodologies, and the limits of human rights data is therefore vital, writes Eduardo Burkle Read more

The Loop

Cutting-edge analysis showcasing the work of the political science discipline at its best.
Read more
THE EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM FOR POLITICAL RESEARCH
Advancing Political Science
© 2025 European Consortium for Political Research. The ECPR is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) number 1167403 ECPR, Harbour House, 6-8 Hythe Quay, Colchester, CO2 8JF, United Kingdom.
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram