1. As a science: it seeks systematic, verifiable knowledge — hypotheses, evidence, comparison (modern behavioural work uses surveys and statistics). But unlike physics, its laboratory is society; experiments are impossible to repeat; values infect observation. Hence —
2. As an art: governing is a practical craft — the art of the possible (Bismarck); political judgement, leadership and compromise.
3. Conclusion (exam-safe): Political Science is a social science — scientific in method and aspiration, interpretive in subject-matter; both descriptive (what is) and normative (what ought to be).