The relevance of politically relevant dyads

Authors
Citation
D. Lemke et W. Reed, The relevance of politically relevant dyads, J CONFL RES, 45(1), 2001, pp. 126-144
Citations number
47
Categorie Soggetti
Politucal Science & public Administration
Journal title
JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
ISSN journal
00220027 → ACNP
Volume
45
Issue
1
Year of publication
2001
Pages
126 - 144
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-0027(200102)45:1<126:TROPRD>2.0.ZU;2-N
Abstract
Relevant dyads are pairs of contiguous states or pairs of states including at least one major power. They are argued to be the population of dyads at risk of international conflict and are increasingly commonly used as the ca ses analyzed by conflict researchers. Does reliance on relevant dyads (a no nrandom sample of all dyads) introduce threats to valid inference? The auth ors argue that relevant dyad usage might introduce related problems of meas urement error and selection bias and investigate whether there is evidence of such potential problems existing in actual relevant dyad data sets. Resu lts show evidence for both types of potential problems, but neither problem substantively affects estimates of conflict relationships. Therefore, rele vant dyad usage is not especially objectionable due to either of these prob lems, and retrospective sampling might be an even more profitable course fo r future research.