Do We Preach What We Practice? A Survey of Methods in Political Science Journals and Curricula

[...] far, however, the strong opinions expressed on all sides of these questions have been accompanied by very little systematic data on the basic issues involved: how much research is published using each method and how this is changing over time; what methodological courses are being taught or required; and what mix of methods and subfields is represented in APSR and other leading journals in the field.2 To address these issues, we undertook a survey of the methods used in empirical research in over 2,200 articles in 10 top journals in political science in the United States, and a companion survey of the methodological courses required and offered in graduate programs at the top 30 political science departments in the United States. Scholars will be limited in their reading of the literature unless they have at least a reading competency in all three methods. * The dearth of case study articles in American Politics, although possibly offset by books on the subject that use qualitative methods, demands attention as to whether an important approach has been woefully neglected. * The relative infrequency of articles on International Relations in APSR, and the even stronger under-representation of case studies in International Relations compared to other top journals, suggest that some re-balancing is in order.