Hmm! Yes, that’s interesting—and aligns with the fact that many different policy influencers weighed in, ranging from former to current policymakers. Thank you very much for this!
I think something I’m worried about is how I can conceptualize [inside experts] vs. [outside experts] … It seems like a potentially arbitrary divide and/or a very complex undertaking given the lack of transparency into the policy process (i.e. who actually wields influence and access to Biden and Katherine Tai, on this specific issue?).
It also complicates the investigation by adding in the element of access as a factor, rather than purely thinking about narrative strategies—and I very much want to focus on narratives. On one hand, I think that could be interesting—e.g. looking at narrative strategies across levels of access. On the other, I’m uncertain that looking at narrative strategies would add much compared to just analyzing the stances of actors within the sphere of influence.
What do you think of this alternate RQ: “How did pro/anti-waiver coalitions use evidence in their narratives?”
Moves away from the focus on experts but still gets to the scientific/epistemic component.
(I’m also wondering whether I am being overly concerned with theoretically justifying things!)
(I’m also wondering whether I am being overly concerned with theoretically justifying things!)
I think I would agree with this. It seems like you’re trying to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular framework or set of frameworks through this exercise and you’re letting that constrain your choices a lot. Maybe that will be a good choice if you’re definitely going into academia as a political scientist after this, but otherwise, I would structure the approach around how research happens most naturally in the real world, which is that you have a research question that would have concrete practical value if it were answered, and then you set out to answer it using whatever combination of theories and methods makes sense for the question.
Hmm! Yes, that’s interesting—and aligns with the fact that many different policy influencers weighed in, ranging from former to current policymakers. Thank you very much for this!
I think something I’m worried about is how I can conceptualize [inside experts] vs. [outside experts] … It seems like a potentially arbitrary divide and/or a very complex undertaking given the lack of transparency into the policy process (i.e. who actually wields influence and access to Biden and Katherine Tai, on this specific issue?).
It also complicates the investigation by adding in the element of access as a factor, rather than purely thinking about narrative strategies—and I very much want to focus on narratives. On one hand, I think that could be interesting—e.g. looking at narrative strategies across levels of access. On the other, I’m uncertain that looking at narrative strategies would add much compared to just analyzing the stances of actors within the sphere of influence.
What do you think of this alternate RQ: “How did pro/anti-waiver coalitions use evidence in their narratives?”
Moves away from the focus on experts but still gets to the scientific/epistemic component.
(I’m also wondering whether I am being overly concerned with theoretically justifying things!)
I think I would agree with this. It seems like you’re trying to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular framework or set of frameworks through this exercise and you’re letting that constrain your choices a lot. Maybe that will be a good choice if you’re definitely going into academia as a political scientist after this, but otherwise, I would structure the approach around how research happens most naturally in the real world, which is that you have a research question that would have concrete practical value if it were answered, and then you set out to answer it using whatever combination of theories and methods makes sense for the question.
Thanks! I’ll take a break from thinking about the theory—ironically, I am fairly confident I don’t want to go into academia.
Again, appreciate your thoughts on this. Hope I’ll hear from you again if I post another Shortform about my thesis!