Political Science as a Science

In a pioneering effort, we tried to measure and explain Political Science (PS) students’ perceptions of their discipline as science. We analyzed as dependent variables the single option answers to the question “Why does the word ‘science’ exist in the name of our discipline?” Those responses represent a range of perceptions from the most affirmative perception of PS as science to the most denying one. We tried to explain those perceptions with three batches of explanatory variables: academic courses taken during the studies, familiarity with research methods, and research experiences during academic studies. We built a series of hypotheses and tested them with a sample of 630 PS students that we collected during the 2021–2022 academic year in three Western Balkans countries: Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. The findings mostly supported our claim that student training in research methods and their research experiences would predict a higher appreciation of their discipline as science. Our findings could help PS educators to apply research methods courses and student involvement in research projects as ways to foster PS students’ appreciation of the scientific nature of PS.