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Working with Concepts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

David Collier
Edited by
Zachary Elkins
David Collier
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Zachary Elkins
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin

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Working with Concepts
Foundational Essays by David Collier, with Research Notes on Innovation in the Field
 , pp. i
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2026
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NC
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

Working with Concepts

David Collier is an influential thinker on conceptualization, which is foundational to social science inquiry. A prominent political scientist, he specializes in mixed methods and comparative politics. Working with Concepts brings together Collier’s most influential research on concepts and measurement, refined and reframed, to offer a systematic approach to concept analysis. Edited by Zachary Elkins, the book serves as a reference book for both students and seasoned scholars grappling with concepts. Collier’s essays are accompanied by commentaries by fifteen scholars who connect his contributions to ongoing innovation in the field. The commentaries open up new lines of research and provoke ongoing scholarly reaction and debate. Tightly organized with the aim of moving the discussion forward, this collection of essays explores some of the contours of the field and its milestones to show how careful work with concepts is a foundation of good methodology. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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