A Dynamic Labor Market: How Political Science is Opening Up to ; Methodologists, and How Methodologists are Opening Up Political ; Science | CU Experts

If disciplines can be likened to living things, then perhaps political ; science is best characterized not by familiar symbols—e.g., the ; elephant, the donkey, or the eagle—but by a small sea creature: the ; hermit crab. Rather than generating its own protective cover, the hermit ; crab adopts the foreign shells that it comes across; it makes a home for ; itself by utilizing the previous works of other crustaceans. For many ; years, the discipline of political science—like other areas within ; the social and behavioral sciences—built its own frameworks using ; the analytical tools found in outside disciplines. Borrowing heavily from ; econometrics, psychometrics, and biometrics, political scientists examined ; empirical data as they tested theories about individual behavior, ; organizational dynamics, and governmental processes. The substantive ends ; were of primary interest, and therefore less attention was paid to the ; means of inquiry. The authors wish to thank ; Michael Brintnall for sharing the American Political Science ; Association's data on job postings, and David Campbell, Tom Carsey, ; Suzanna DeBoef, Jeff Gill, John Jackson, Jonathan Nagler, Herb Weisberg, ; and Sarah Wilson for helpful comments and suggestions on previous versions ; of this article.

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