What are actions?Physical human movement or behavior done for a reason.
Define applied research.Research designed to produce knowledge useful in altering a real-world condition or situation.
What is behavioralism?The study of politics that focuses on political behavior and embraces the scientific method.
What is a causal relation?A connection between two entities that occurs because one produces, or brings about, the other with complete or great regularity.


What is constructionism?An approach to knowledge that asserts humans actually construct - through their social interactions and cultural and historical practices - many of the facts they take for granted as having an independent, objective, or material reality.
What is critical theory?The philosophical stance that disciplines such as political science should assess critically and change society, not merely study it objectively.
What is cumulative knowledge?Characteristic of scientific knowledge; new substantive findings and research techniques are built upon those of previous studies.
What is deduction?A process of reasoning from a theory to specific observations.


What are descriptive statistics?Summarize the information in a collection of data. The main purpose of descriptive statistics is to reduce the data to simpler and more understandable forms without distorting or losing much information.
What is an empirical generalization?A statement that summarizes the relationship between individual facts and that communicates general knowledge.
Define empirical research.Research based on actual, ''objective'' observation of phenomena.
What is an empirical verification?Characteristic of scientific knowledge; demonstration by means of objective observation that a statement is true.


What is an explanation?A systematic, empirically verified understanding of why a phenomenon occurs as it does.
What is explanatory information?Characteristic of scientific knowledge; signifying that a conclusion can be derived from a set of general propositions and specific initial considerations; providing a systematic, empirically verified understanding of why a phenomenon occurs as it does.
What is falsifiability?A property of a statement or hypothesis such that it can (in principle, at least) be rejected in the face of contravening evidence.
What is general information?Characteristic of scientific knowledge; applicable to many rather than a few cases.


What is induction?Induction is the process of drawing an inference from a set of premises and observations. The premises of an inductive argument support its conclusion but do not prove it.
Define interpretation.Philosophical approach to the study of human behavior that claims that one must understand the way individuals see their world in order to understand truly their behavior or actions; philosophical objection to the empirical approach to political science.
What is a literature review?a systematic examination and interpretation of the literature for the purpose of informing further work on a topic
What is non-normative knowledge?Knowledge concerned not with evaluation or prescription but with factual or objective determinations.


What is normative knowledge?Knowledge that is evaluative, value laden, and concerned with prescribing what ought to be.
Define parsimony.The principle that among explanations or theories with equal degrees of confirmation, the simplest - the one based on the fewest assumptions and explanatory factors - is to be preferred. (Sometimes known as Ockham's razor.)
What is political science?The application of the methods of acquiring scientific knowledge to the study of political phenomena.
What is postbehavioralism?The reaction to behavioralism that called for political science research to be more relevant to important current political issues.


What is predictive information?A characteristic of explanatory knowledge; indicates an ability to correctly anticipate future events. The application of explanation to events in the future forms a prediction.
What is a probabilistic explanation?An explanation that does not explain or predict events with 100% accuracy.
What is provisional information?A characteristic of scientific knowledge; subject to revision and change.
What is pure or theoretical research?Research designed to satisfy one's intellectual curiosity about some phenomenon.


What are reasons?Beliefs and desires that justify or explain an action or behavior.
What is a scientific revolution?The rapid development of a rival tradition of scientific research; usually accompanied by conflict among scientists over the theoretical perspective that will endure.
What is statistics?A body of methods for obtaining and analyzing data.
What is the difference between statistics and parameters?Statistics summarize sample data, while parameters summarize entire populations.


Define theory.A statement or series of statements that organize, explain, and predict phenomena.
What is transmissible information?Characteristic of scientific knowledge; indicates that the methods used in making scientific discoveries are made explicit.
What is formal theory?A set of propositions that explain how people and organizations should behave, assuming that people are economically rational.
Define testable.A proposition is testable if it can be falsified. There must be a way to show that the proposition could be false.


What is theory-oriented research?Academic research aimed at explaining political phenomena. Theory-oriented research focuses on cause-effect relationships to help us better understand why things happen the way they do (even if these things aren't good or bad, and we can't do anything about them).