Research Methodology: Cambodia as Case Study

Abstract

This chapter addresses the question of analytical methods essential to this type of research. It makes the argument that case studies can provide useful in-depth analysis, which helps us answer some of the complex problems related to democratization. This chapter formulates a proposition and a set of hypotheses for empirical testing and discusses sources of data used for the book’s single country-case study, Cambodia. This study, however, does not follow strictly the requirement of quantitative data and statistic techniques, as scientific positivists do. As of 2006, post-communist and post-war Cambodia (with a history of monarchical and socialist rule) had not yet become industrialized and still lacked reliable numerical data. Analysis of democratic politics in post-war societies must rely on both quantitative and qualitative data from all available sources.