Philosophical Foundations of Social Research Methods

Malcolm Williams is Professor and Codirector of the Cardiff Q-Step Centre for Quantitative Methods pedagogy. Until July 2014, he was the Director of the School of Social Sciences, at Cardiff, and prior to this Professor of Social Research Methodology at Plymouth University. He is the author/editor of nine books and over a hundred articles/chapters. His primary research interest has been around methodological and philosophical issues in social research, particularly objectivity, probability, causality, and representation. His most recent book Key Concepts in the Philosophy of Social Research was published by SAGE in 2017. His past empirical research has included the measurement of homeless populations (using capture-recapture) and the analysis of longitudinal census data to explore household formation/dissolution and counterurbanisation migration. In the last few years, his primary research interest has been in the pedagogy of quantitative methods.

• Volume One: Social Research as Science or ArtPART ONE: THE CHALLENGE TO SCIENCE AND ITS DEFENCEIntroduction - WilliamsPhilosophical Foundations and Empirical Social ResearchThe Art of Social Science - R RedfieldIs It a Science? - S MorgenbesserRoscher′s Historical Method - M WeberUnity of Method in the Natural and Social Sciences - K PopperValid and Invalid Alternatives to Social Science - M SteuerThe Relevance of Methodology - P LazarsfeldThe Perestroikan Challenge to Social Science - D LaitinBeyond Paradigm - S SchramResisting the Assimilation of Phronetic Social ScienceArt in Science? - E Eisner and K PowellPART TWO: POSITIVISM AND ANTI-POSITIVISMTwo Tradition - G H Von WrightPositivism Reconsidered - C BryantMethodology in the Social Sciences - R HolubThe Positivist DebatePositivism, Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in the Social Sciences - R KeatContemporary Positivism in Sociology - G LundbergPositivism in Sociological Research - C Gartrell and J GartrellUSA and UK (1966-1990)Interpretive Interactionism - N DenzinThe Basic Belief Systems of the Conventional and Constructivist Paradigm - E Guba and Y LincolnOn Demonstration - A TudorQuantitative and Qualitative Research Strategies in Knowing the Social World - A BrymanThe Qualitative-Quantitative Debate - A ClarkMoving from Positivism and Confrontation to Post-Positivism and ReconciliationVolume Two: Philosophical Issues in Research StrategiesPART ONE: CAUSALITY, EXPLANATION AND LAWSLaws of Nature and Causality - R BraithwaiteCausal Thinking... - H BlalockAxioms of Causation - R MacIverThe Meaning and Measurement of Causal Effect - O HellevikCausation, Statistics and Sociology - J GoldthorpeTo Justify or Explain in History or Social Science? - E MaddenLimitations of Statistics - W OgburnPrediction in Sociology - A AldridgeProspects for a Devalued ActivityThe Quest for Universals in Sociological Research - R TurnerIs the Case for Social Science Laws Strengthening? - C BeedPART TWO: REPRESENTATION THEORIES AND MODELSOperational Definitions Operationally Defined - S DoddSome Notes on Operationism and the Concept of Validity - B AndersonTheory, Measurement and Replication in the Social Sciences - H BlalockOn Being ′Empirical′ without Being Empiricist - R PawsonFunctionalism and the Survey - J PlattThe Relation of Theory and MethodTheoretical Models - J SkvoretzSociology′s Missing LinkPART THREE: INTERPRETATION, LANGUAGE AND MEANINGThe Methods of Ethnology and Social Anthropology - A R Radcliffe-BrownThe Role of Understanding in the Human Studies - H RickmanThe Meaning of Meaningful Behavior - M BunzlLanguage in Social Science - K WebbFrom the Native′s Point of View - C GeertzOn the Nature of Anthropological UnderstandingInterpretive Social Science and the ′Native′s′ Point of View - T JonesQuality in Qualitative Research - C SealVolume Three: Social Reality and the Social Context of Social ResearchPART ONE: REALISM AND ANTI-REALISMRealist Philosophy of Science - R Keat and J UrryRealist Philosophy of the Social Sciences and Economics - P BeartA CritiqueObservations on Positivism and Pseudoscience in Qualitative Nursing Research - M JohnsonMaking up People - I HackingSocial Construction as Ontology - D Nightingale and J CrombyMiddle Range Theory - K MenziesA Realist ViewMiddle Range Realism - R PawsonBhaskar′s Critical Realism - M HammersleyPART TWO: OBJECTIVITY, COMMITMENT AND THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL ENQUIRYWhose Side Are We on? - H BeckerAnti Minotaur - A GouldnerThe Myth of a Value-Free SociologyThe Value-Orientated Bias of Social Enquiry - E NagelSituated Objectivity - M WilliamsThe Institutionalization of Social Inquiry - J BarnesParticipatory Action Research - L KrimermanShould Social Inquiry Be Conducted Democratically?Reflexivity and Ethnographic Research - C DaviesReflexivity and Sociological Practice - T MayPART THREE: INDIVIDUALS, WHOLES AND UNITS OF ANALYSISMethodological Individualism - G HomansBehind Methodological Individualism - G HodgsonTen Modes of Individualism - None of Which Works - and Their Alternatives - M BungeInstitutional Individualism and Institutional Change - F TobosoThe Search for a Middle Way Mode of ExplanationCurrent Issues in Comparative Macrosociology - J GoldthorpeA Debate on Methodological IssuesTurning the Tables - C RaginHow Case-Orientated Research Challenges Variable-Orientated ResearchPart/Whole Morphology - T ScheffUnifying Single Cases and Comparative MethodsVolume Four: New Strategies in Social ResearchPART ONE: PROBABILITY, COMPLEXITY AND NEURAL NETWORKSTheories about Probability - I HackingThe Nature of Measurement - D ByrneWhat We Measure and How We MeasureThe Propensities of Evolving Systems - R UlanowiczComplexity and the Quantitative Programme in Social Science - D ByrneWebs of Chaos - W StroupImplications for Research DesignsComments on Neural Networks - H PaikTime-Series Analysis with Neural Networks and ARIMA-Neural Network Hybrids - J Hansen and NelsonPART TWO: FEMINISM AND SOCIAL RESEARCHIs There a Feminist Method? - S HardingSexism in Research - M EichlerQuoting and Counting - G LetherbyThe Qualitative/Quantitative DivideGender, Methodology and People′s Ways of Knowing - A OakleyFeminism and Epistemology - J HolmwoodWhat Kind of Successor Science?Introduction to Mixed Method and Mixed Model Studies in the Social and Behavioral Sciences - A Tashakkori and C TeddlieOn the Integration of the Social Sciences - F HellerThe Rashomon Effect - W Roth and J MehtaCombining Positivist and Interpretivist Approaches in the Analysis of Contested EventsNumbers and Narratives - R NashFurther Reflections in the Sociology of EducationMethodological Triangulation in Nursing Research - M Risjord, M Moloney and DunbarTriangulation Revisited - U FlickStrategy of Validation or AlternativeContingency, Reality and Plurality in Social Research - M Williams

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