Česká cesta metodologického vzdělávání v politické vědě v mezinárodní perspektivě
The Czech Way of Methodological Training in Political Science from an International Perspective

Summary/Abstract: Methodologies and methods represent one of the most fundamental and persistent topics of scientific debates, especially in western political science. While Czech political science strives for deeper international integration, such an effort may be limited by (among other things) the insufficient methodological training of its scholars. Acknowledging this concern, the article compares the levels of methodological education at elite western universities and selected Czech universities. The resulting comparison shows that Czech political science programs offer (i) less methodological courses in general, (ii) but especially in the realm of quantitative methodologies, and (iii) above all, they do not provide training in advanced (qualitative as well as quantitative) methods at all. The long term effects include the limited ability of Czech researchers to productively use works utilizing more sophisticated methods, which may in turn negatively affect their chances of publishing research in some of the prestigious international journals. Under these adverse conditions researchers may unwittingly eschew research questions whose solutions presume the employment of an advanced method. Considering, however, on the one hand, the deep rooted and self-reproducing historical embeddedness of the Czech way of methodological education, and the financial weakness of Czech universities on the other, one apprehends that there will not be a significant improvement in this area in the middle-term horizon.

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