Posted: March 5th, 2022

POLS 3001 University of Utah Humanitarian Intervention Policies

POLS 3001 University of Utah Humanitarian Intervention Policies
POLS 3001 University of Utah Humanitarian Intervention Policies

Evaluate Kuperman’s Article (will be attached) by answering the following questions, making sure to explain and support each answer.

1- What is the main research question in this research report?

2- What is the theoretical explanation the researcher is proposing for the political phenomena that interest him? Briefly summarize this explanation. Does he test any rival theoretical explanations? If so, what are they? (Hint: Kuperman refers to these as “explanations” and “hypotheses,” using this latter term differently from how we and our methodology texts have in this course.) For extra-credit you may suggest an alternative explanation he did not consider.

3- Why does the researcher appear to have chosen the particular cases that he uses? Looking both at his reasoning here (if it is provided) and the nature of the cases themselves, evaluate his case selection—to what extent does it provide a basis for inferring causality (internal validity) and for building generalizable theory (external validity)? Explain. (Make sure to address case selection rather than the research results in this answer.)

4- For each of the candidate theoretical explanations (in Kuperman’s terminology, “hypotheses”) explain why and how the researcher’s analysis of the cases leads him to accept or reject them. As you do so, evaluate his interpretations critically. (Please number these parts of your answer H.1, H.2, H.3, H.4, and H.5, using the numbers from the table on p. 55 of Kuperman 2008. Note that H.5. is also referred to by Kuperman as the null hypothesis.) In addition, clearly and fully present any alternative interpretations (or rival theoretical explanations) you might have.

5- Are the conclusions reached actually warranted by the data presented, the research design used, and the results of the analysis of the data? (Please notice that this question requires you to engage with the actual claims the author makes in his conclusions.) Here you should make sure to consider questions of both internal validity and external validity. In your answer, you should address whether the study makes the kind of contribution to the literature that the author claims it does or whether the author has generalized too far beyond the limits of his research. As always, explain your answer.