Approaches and methods, described above, are general frames of thought They are logical systems employed for studying the State and politics for centuries past. Political Science is a homothetic discipline, i.e. it seeks to discover laws or regularities in political behaviour. That is the reason why the students of Political Science now search for tools and means by which they can measure or quantify the behaviour of the people engaged in some sort of political activities, like voting in general elections or in the legislatures, or to study the attitudes or beliefs which make people to become members of various political parties, etc.
These tools and means of quantitative studies of political behaviour and attitudes etc. are known as the techniques of Political Science. Most of them are derived from such other social sciences as sociology, psychology, etc. Techniques are the neat and precise ways of investigating facts under the general frame of a methodology in order to discover regularities or laws in political behaviour, attitudes, etc. These techniques have been devised during the last one century or so, and many more would be devised in the future. Statistical techniques have become important aids to political studies. Some of the techniques are described as under.
Study of Documentary Materials:
There are innumerable documents relating to various political institutions, like parliaments, parties, interest or pressure groups, political movements, etc. They are, for instance, parliamentary, proceedings and committee repents, other government publications, political parties’ manifestoes, reports and other publications, newspapers, magazines, periodicals and other printed materials, such as books, memoirs, autobiographies, encyclopaedias, etc.
All these documents and publications are the source materials for the research workers to study these institutions, parties and movements. They provide us information about their work, functions, their decision making processes and the attitudes and voting behaviour of their members and leaders.
Direct Observation:
The students of Political Science can themselves directly observe the workings of the various political bodies, such as parties, pressure groups, and governmental organs, such as the legislative assemblies or administrative departments or local self-governing bodies, etc A still more closer method of observation is that of the “participant observer”. In this case the researcher himself participates in die proceedings of a political party or movement. Interviewing politic-workers and leaders is another important technique of Political Science.
Survey Techniques:
During the last fifty years or more, various kind of survey techniques and methods have been devised in social and political sciences. They are important data collecting techniques and methods. By survey we mean the method of collecting and analysing data on the behaviour of a large or restricted number of people. Population surveys are undertaken for social and political purposes, or election surveys to forecast election results. Gallop Poll is a well-known example of such surveys.
It is a technique of “sample survey”, whereby the activities, attitudes and responses of a large number of people are studied. A “sample” of some restricted number of them, carefully selected, is surveyed and the result is then applied to the whole people, such as voters. An individual may be asked questions, which is the method of “questionnaire”. These two techniques are extensively used in opinion polls, i.e. to study public opinion.