Working Paper No. 50. Force and Ambiguity: evaluating sources for cross-national research - the case of military interventions.

• From: Department for International Development
• Published: 1 January 2009

• Document Type: Working Paper
• Theme: Governance and Conflict
• Authors: Gutierrez Sanin, F., Gonzalez Pena, A.

Abstract

This paper discusses the analytical problems associated with the increasing use of numerical databases in quantitative cross-national research. The authors highlight the need for a better understanding of the way these databases are constructed and their inherent ambiguities and they examine the existing critical literature. The paper makes a case study of data on military interventions and analyses the problems of classification that the authors identified in several well-known databases. The paper concludes that more attention should be given to modelling uncertainty rather than attempting to achieve clear-cut precision.

Citation

Working Paper No. 50 (series 2), London, UK; Crisis States Research Centre, 19 pp.

Links

Working Paper No. 50. Force and Ambiguity: evaluating sources for cross-national research - the case of military interventions.

Published 1 January 2009