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1.1 The Practice of Political Scientists

Part of Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments in AP® Comparative Government & Politics. Read the opening section, then create a free account for the full interactive lesson, practice, and progress tracking.

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Lesson Overview

Political scientists compare institutions, behavior, and outcomes by asking testable questions and evaluating evidence from multiple cases.

The comparative method helps isolate meaningful similarities and differences, while careful researchers distinguish correlation from causation.

One useful measure is turnout=ballotscast/eligiblevoters∗100{turnout=ballots_cast/eligible_voters*100}.

In this unit

10 lessons

  1. 1.1The Practice of Political ScientistsThis lesson
  2. 1.3Democracy vs. AuthoritarianismPreview lesson
  3. 1.3Democracy vs. AuthoritarianismOpen lesson
  4. 1.4DemocratizationPreview lesson
  5. 1.5Sources of Power and AuthorityPreview lesson
  6. 1.6Change in Power and AuthorityPreview lesson
  7. 1.7Federal and Unitary SystemsPreview lesson
  8. 1.8Political LegitimacyPreview lesson
  9. 1.9Sustaining LegitimacyPreview lesson
  10. 1.10Political StabilityPreview lesson

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