Description:

Please join the Comparative Politics Workshop as they host Sarah Moore, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science and an MS Candidate in Statistics at Northwestern University, for a presentation titled "Costly Concepts: Navigating Practical Challenges in Concept Measurement."

Moore showcases and provides a solution for what she calls costly concepts, concepts for which a direct measure exists, but data collection is too expensive to engage in over many cases. Typically, scholars use proxy measures of these concepts. But when proxies are not a one-to-one match with the accurate concept measurement, there is non-random measurement error. Moore suggests that a mixed-method approach to measurement, in which true measurement of the concept is obtained over a set of cases, can be useful to define the contours of the bias between the true measure of concepts and a chosen proxy. Moore further demonstrates how case insights can inform the basis of improved measurement of the concept. Moore provides an illustration of this method to measure access to essential services, such as running water or sewage, at sub-municipal levels. 

Sarah Moore is a PhD Candidate in Political Science and an MS Candidate in Statistics at Northwestern University, Moore develops mixed-methods research tools for the empirical study of comparative politics, especially where information is scarce or hard to reach. Moore substantively focuses on the legacies of violent conflict, subnational governance and authority, and comparative political economy in Latin America. In her dissertation, Moores devises problem-solving methods for issues encountered in the study of comparative politics. The project is divided into three papers in preparation that each tackle a distinct methodological issue. In each paper, Moore demonstrates the applied utility of the methods to a research question within her substantive area of expertise – the study of the legacies of conflict and comparative political economy.