Research Strategies in Policy Studies
Summer School • 3rd Edition 

Validity across methods

Genoa, July 6-10, 2015
University main building, Room Mazzini, Via Balbi 5

What makes research results valid? Such question has mainly been of concern to large-N, probabilistic research - especially of experimental studies, whence practices and tests of validity have developed and popularized as some "gold standard" in policy research since the 1960s. When qualitative scholars have paid attention to the issue, they have often dismissed such concerns as excessively committed to the positivistic rationale of falsification. Nevertheless, many critiques to such "post-positivist" small-N studies have been moved exactly on the ground of validity, as qualitative results have repeatedly been charged with idiosyncrasy, lack of rigor, and little capacity of sound inferences. In a lively on-going methodological debate, qualitative studies have thus been compelled to justify their own understanding of validity, and develop special criteria which may or may not overlap the gold standard from probabilistic research.
ReSPoS 2015 aims to bring this debate to students. During five days, they will be presented with the positions that different research strategies maintain about the meaning of validity, and the practices that follow. At the end of the week, students will be more aware of the requirements and the limits of "credible" empirical results across research strategies.

• Program

Mon 6 - Keynote speech
Donatella Della Porta 
EUI & Scuola Normale Superiore

Tue 7 - Validity in probabilistic analysis
Erich Battistin 
Queen Mary University of London & IRVAPP

Wed 8 - Validity in case studies
Silvia Gherardi 
Università degli Studi di Trento

Thu 9 - Validity in QCA
Alessia Damonte 
Università degli Studi di Milano

Fri 10 - Validity in multi-method research
Ingo Rohlfing 
Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences

• Venue
The School will be hosted by the Università degli Studi di Genova, in its main building of Via Balbi 5 - a palace from the first half of the XVII century conveniently located at walking distance from the railway station of Genova Piazza Principe. Classes will be all held in the Aula Mazzini, 3rd floor.

• Applications
The School welcomes applications from any interested major or graduate students, and researchers from private and public organizations.
The deadline for application is May, 15th.
Applications are online only. Interested candidates can access the online form here.
The School can unfortunately accept no more than 25 students. Were the applications exceeding our capacity, preference will be given to candidates with some previous knowledge of policy studies and a proven interest in empirical research.

• Admission & Attendance
Admissions will be communicated by e-mail only two weeks after the application deadline.
The School will certify 25 hours of attendance. Candidates can inform the School administration of their interest in such certificate after admission.
Further information about readings will follow admission, too.

• Fees and services
Thanks to the financial support from our sponsors, the School is free of charges.
We however regret for being unable to further help admitted candidates with their travel and stay costs.

• Sponsorships
The ReSPoS School is a project of the NASP (Network for the Advancement of Social and Political Sciences). It gratefully acknowledges the fundamental support from the Compagnia di San Paolo and Cariplo.
The School has also been endorsed by the Standing Group "Political Science & Public Policy" of the SISP - Società Italiana di Scienza Politica.

• Further info
For any request, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.