PO203 Research Methods - Lucas: Activity

In order to save time, I only included citations in some of the shapes in this conceptual diagram.  However, each concept and sub-concept in the diagram is a focus of one or more of the 14 studies in the library activity above.  If you organize your literature review conceptually, you would want to discuss each concept that you are focusing on, summarize the findings from the studies that you have reviewed that also focus on that concept, cite those studies/findings accordingly, and link those findings from the studies to your arguments/hypotheses (either as a point of comparison or a point of contrast).

Note: There are also alternative ways of organizing the concepts below.  For instance, you could talk about opportunities for rebellion/civil war: elite divisions, regime change, economic opportunities.  You could talk about groups needing resources and geographic advantages to fight a civil war: access to natural resources, geographic concentration, rough terrain, external support.  You could talk about instability: state capacity, regime change, lack of commitment to non-violence, environmental stress.  Etc. etc.