International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   Article 3 of the charter of the Scientific Study of International Processes (SSIP) section of the International Studies Association (available on the section's website at www.isanet.org/ssip/ ) proclaims the following purpose for the section: SSIP is dedicated to bringing together researchers who, at all levels of analysis and with respect to the entire range of international political questions, pursue these issues using (1) formally stated arguments and/or (2) systematically collected and analyzed empirical data. Following the canons of scientific inquiry, the section seeks to support and promote replicable research in terms of the clarity of a theoretical argument and/or the testing of hypotheses. The systematic analysis of empirical data thus constitutes a central goal of the section. This essay reviews the data sets that have been used in recent research in order to help researchers pursue this goal. This essay begins with a brief review of recent quantitative research of interest to SSIP section members. These articles are classified by their substantive focus in order to identify the research interests that have attracted the most scholarly attention in recent years. The most common data sets used for each topic are then discussed in order to assess the many options that are available to scholars working in these areas. The essay concludes with ... log in or subscribe to read full text