Formal Modeling and Empirical Analysis in Political Science

Abstract

Over ten years ago I wrote the passage above for my book, Methods and Models: A Guide to the Empirical Analysis of Formal Models in Political Science, and quoted Bartels and Brady’s 1993 comment also above. In Methods and Models I attempted to provide a framework for researchers to bridge the gap between sophistical empirical methodology and formal modeling. In this essay I summarize what I see as the important aspects of that framework and highlight the major points. Necessarily, however, this chapter does not go into some of the nuances discussed in the book nor do I present the numerous examples from the literature highlighted there. I hope that this chapter will serve as an introduction to the interested reader who will then explore this exciting research question further.